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FORMATION OF THE SPIRITUAL BODY. 






DEATH 



The After-Life 

EIGHT EVENING LECTURES ON 

THE SUMMER-LAND. 



BY 

ANDKEW JACKSON DAYIS.. 



rffONOGEAPHICALLY HEPORTED BY ROBERT 8. MOOEB. 



ALSO, 

A VOICE FROM JAMES VICTOR WILSON. 

FOURTH ENLARGED EDITION. 



BOSTON": 
WILLIAM WHITE & COMPANY. 

BANNER OF LIGHT OFFICE, 158 WASHINGTON STREET. 

NEW YORK: 
AMERICAN NEWS CO., AGENTS, 119 NASSAU STREET. 

1871 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, 
By ANDEEW. JACKSON DAVIS. 

Ill the Clerk's Office of the District Conrt of the United States for 1 
District of New Jersey. 



By Transfer 
M " » IW/ 



ORDER OF CONTENTS 



1. Death and the After-Life. 

2. Scenes in the Summer- Land. 

3. SociETr in the Summer-Land. 

4. Social Centers in the Summer-Land. 

5. Winter-Land and Summer- Land. 

6. Language and Ltfe in Summer- Land. 

7. Material Work foe, Spiritual Workers 

8. Ultimates in the Summer-Land. 

9 Voice from James Victor Wilson. 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 



"Death is but a kind and welcome servant, who unlocks with noiseless 
hand life's flower-encircled door, to show us those we love." 

I find myself somewhat embarrassed in^Deaking on 
a subject which, though it is not a stranger to human 
hopes and aspirations, is nevertheless quite foreign to 
most people's habits of thinking, opposed to their edu- 
cational bias, and which conflicts with popular methods 
of reasoning on the resurrection. 

I find three classes of persons who have read, and 
studied, and investigated the truths of this discourse. 
One class of minds are prepared for many spiritual 
things that I do not feel impressed to utter on this 
occasion. I am to address more especially a second 
class who have heard a large variety of opinions 
expressed concerning this subject, and are favorably 
inclined towards it, yet who have no practical know- 
ledge so far as the general question of immortality is 
concerned, and who are, therefore, in the rudiments of 
spiritual education respecting the processes of Death, 
and scenes in the After-life. 

Then I find that there is in society a supercilious 
class — I might say a super-silly class, (if this is not a 
dictionary word, it ought to be,) who fancy and profess 
that they know all — a band of intellectual finishers — 
persons who have an unhappy conceit in the perceptive 
powers — that they are thoroughly "posted." These 



4 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

last named persons are accustomed to the newspapers, 
to the genteel Weeklies and orthodox Monthlies, and 
to the trans-Atlantic Quarterlies, but are not at all 
accustomed to think upon the spiritual, practical, and 
progressive questions discussed from the Harmonial 
platform. And yet these same persons have a conceit 
that they cannot be further informed. Every such mind 
has a social center, and will exert his or her magnetic 
influence upon others. 

Now finding the public divided into these mental 
conditions, it becomes necessary that I should express 
something which would at least seem measurably 
familiar to the intuitions and religious education of the 
people. To speak upon a strange subject, and to 
describe scenes that are wholly transmundane, and to 
link such subjects and descriptions with nothing analo- 
gous or known, would, to many minds, be building a 
temple without any basis in either Nature or Reason, 
and hence, utterly imaginative and unprofitable. For 
this reason I shall speak to the world from the position 
of religious conviction and general experience, going 
on the supposition that all rational men are interested 
in questions pertaining to the life after death. 

I begin by asking your attention to the Spiritual- 
ism of Paul — the most learned of the Apostles, who, in 
giving descriptions of death, said : " There is a natural 
body, and there is a spiritual body ;" not that there 
would be, but there is' " a spiritual body." Now there 
are individuals who think thus : " Paul says so ; he is 
our authority"; we do not question his testimony : but 
it is all a great mystery." But the spiritual philoso- 
pher cheerfully and unprejudicially takes the testimony 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 5 

of Paul, stands it by the side of the organized human 
being, and asks, " Is there a spiritual body V Paul 
did not refer to something outside of human nature, but 
pointed to facts in the organization of persons in the 
world before him. The question is not whether Paul 
said it, but does Nature sustain the assertion ? All 
truth must be in harmony with the perfect system of 
Nature. 

There are persons everywhere who accept Paul's 
affirmation as final authority. There need be no con- 
troversy between Orthodoxites and Spiritualists on 
this question. We can shake hands over the subject ; 
we can lock arms and walk together. If, with Paul, 
you believe that there positively is in each man's 
organism, not only a natural body, but also " a spiritual 
body," then you are as much committed to the funda- 
mental teachings of Spiritualism as I am, and I am on 
this point no more of a Spiritualist than you Christians 
are, and henceforth we can happily "walk together," 
because we are " agreed" on the basis of a true spiritual 
philosophy. So far, then, we are friends. 

But may I now ask your attention to some correla- 
tive questions which we inevitably encounter on the 
accepted basis of this spiritual reasoning? If, with 
Paul, we believe that there is a spiritual bod if, must we 
not also believe that there is something inside of that 
body ? To believe differently, would be like saying 
that a jug is designed merely to have an outside and an 
inside, the inward space being filled with nothing. 
Most persons would ask "Is that all? Is the vessel 
not designed to contain something ? Was it not made 
to hold, against all parts of its inward surfaces, some- 



6 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

thing besides the interior of a jug? The thought of 
inventing and owning a jug merely for the purpose 
of holding a jug, is an imbecility. And it would not bo 
less absurd to believe that the " spiritual body" is 
destitute of a more interior substance. A body is de- 
signed to hold something called " spirit." 

If Paul was right, then he stood at least in the ves* 
tibule of that spiritual temple which we have entered 
and searched through and through. We have investi- 
gated and mapped down the " experience" with as 
much gratitude and truthfulness as can be found in any 
ancient Testaments. I make this affirmation with per- 
fect calmness of pulse, and with no heat on my brain ; 
and I know that I shall be ready at any time to re- 
consider reasons, uttered by persons who feel themselves 
not yet satisfied, why positions here taken may not be 
sound in science and philosophy. 

Your attention is asked to the logical conclusion that, 
if there be a spiritual body in every man, as Paul said, 
there must be a fine invisible something treasured up 
within it. Let us see, now, if we can ascertain what 
that treasured " something" is. 

Man is a triple organization. This fact is established 
in two ways — (1) by the concurrent observations of all 
seers, sensitives, and mediums, and (2) by the phenome- 
nal developments of individual men and women. Man's 
external body is a casing, composed of the aggregate 
refinements of the grossest substances. We will name 
the physical body " iron," merely to give it a just 
classification and position in relation to mind and 
spirit. Next, we find that there is an intermediate or- 
ganization — which Paul called the " spiritual body — 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 7 

composed of still finer substances, the ultimation of the 
coarser elements which make up the corporeal or " iron 
organization." The combination of the finer substances 
composing the intermediate or spiritual body, being so 
white and shining, may be called the " silver organiza- 
tion.'' The inmost, or inside of this silvery body, (which 
interior Paul definitely said nothing about,j is the 
immortal " golden image." I use the term " golden 
image," because that metal is just now exceedingly valu- 
able in commerce, and goes directly to men's uppermost 
feelings and interests. Yes, a golden image ! You can- 
not obtain it from stock-jobbers in Wail street. And 
yet it is there when you find yourself there ; you may 
also see it deep down in the spiritual vault of a brother 
speculator ; for whomsoever you meet, and wherever 
you meet, that person, like yourself, contains, against 
the lining surfaces of his spiritual body, the " golden 
image," which, let us thank the Eternal, cannot be bar- 
tered away on 'Change ! 

Paul did not directly speak of what we have been 
philosophically taught to call " the spirit." Fully per- 
suaded am I that you cannot escape the conclusion that 
there must be something within the "spiritual body;" 
and, if so, you Christians might as well " agree" with 
our classification of the different parts of man, as to 
take any other. We call the inmost " spirit" — signi- 
fying the finest, the super-essential portion of man's 
nature, composed of " all imperaonaJ principles," which 
flow from the Deific center of this glorious universe, 
taking a permanent residence within the spiritual body 
which they fill and exalt, just as the elements of the 
spiritual body live within this corporeal or "iroo 
1* 



8 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

organization," which is composed of mineral, vegetable, 
and animal atoms and vitalities. 

Now you may be prepared to take some other steps 
in the path of spiritual discovery. What are they ? 
Take care now where you step — because, if you are in 
reality a believer in Paul's authority, then you are on 
the high road to what is termed " Spiritualism." If 
you are not a Bible-receiver, then other reasonings and 
evidences will be necessary to promote your progress. 
Now, mark ! If you be truly a receiver of Paul's 
beautiful spiritual statements (which we accept, not as 
revelations, but because they agree with the facts of 
the spiritual body,) then you stand upon so much of our 
platform as regards the philosophy that a body is a 
substance. No substance is no body. Nothing cannot 
exist. Existence and substance are convertible terms — 
one means and necessitates the other. Something — k e. 
substance — always exists. If Paul was right, then the 
spiritual body is a fact not only, but it is a substantial 
fact ! That is, the spiritual body is a substance — the 
undcr-fact, the " silver lining" of this physical and 
cloudy organism. If it be an under-fact — a real *and 
substantial body — it is no fiction. 

Now, let us take another step in this logical path. 
You accept that the spiritual body is a substance. But 
do you not know that substance, on the simple rules of 
science and philosophy, implies the associate properties 
of both weight and force. Substance cannot exist with- 
out weight, however inappreciable ; and weight involves 
force, however fine and unimaginable to man's physical 
thought or touch. All this follows if Paul told the 
truth. 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 9 

Now, take one more step. If the spiritual body oe 
a substance, and if a substance possess the property of 
weight, it follows that such weight can never be moved 
without force. The finest substance, with the least 
weight, requires the highest force. This principle is 
plain and simple as the common school-boy's logic, and 
yet it supports the granite basis of the whole Harmonial 
Philosophy concerning " spirit/' which the churches 
everywhere are stealthily accepting and promulgating 
as their own long-entertained doctrine of immor- 
tality! 

If there be a spiritual body, which is a very attenu- 
ated substance, and if this imperceptibly fine substance 
have a delicate weight, and it' force be required to move 
the aerial weight, then I ask " What will be your next 
and most important conclusion V This is your next step : 
That a body so organized, so essentially substantial, 
and so inseparably linked with a fine force, must exist 
somewhere and occupy space ! If any lawyer among 
you can escape this last conclusion, if any materialist 
can go through another orifice in logic, why, I am ready 
to "skedaddle" through the same remarkable opening. 
I want the "whole truth" as -much as any one else can 
want it. Therefore, if you can make a philosophical 
retreat from this military line of logic, I will promise 
to throw down my arms and run with you. 

Do not let the simplicity of the philosophy grow 
weak in your thoughts. If the spiritual body be any- 
thing, it is something; if something, it is substantial ; 
if substantial, it occupies space ; if it occupy space, 
then all of our reveal ments with reference to a " Sum- 
mer-Land" in the bosom of Space, will be inseparable 



10 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

from your convictions of probability. Thus while we 
are crushing and "pulverizing creeds" in God's mill of 
Progressive Truth, we do vastly more labor to secure 
the "fraternization of the spiritual affections of man- 
kind." 

Again let us look into the Apostle's logic. Paul 
says of the spiritual body, " Sown in dishonor" — in 
imperfection, in corporeal impurity — but " raised in glo- 
ry." The familiar word "glory" means "brightness." 
Raised in brightness ! Christians! Do you believe it? 
I believe it in my heart. Do you ? Let us know who 
is the " infidel." I have an extensive reputation for 
being an infidel in the bad sense of the word. To me 
this reputation is very amusing; because I believe so 
much I Why, I am utterly discarded and disfellow- 
shipped by the infidels of the old school. The foxes have 
more holes than I have pillows among the skeptics. 
But do not misapprehend my meaning. My whole soul 
shrinks from contact with sectarian Christians or with 
so-called Christian Spiritualists. Christians, so styled 
in the newspapers, are the most stupid in spiritual 
principles, and the most unmistakable materialists I 
have yet met with in society. Infidels, on the contrary, 
are accessible and decently fraternal. They can 
and will think, although they sometimes look very sul- 
len and seem over-much disappointed, because they have 
been too long reasoning wrong end foremost — have 
logically consigned themselves to a total death when 
they lie down to die — and, of course, they unani- 
mously consider that their long-cherished views are 
tenable and incontrovertible. Hence they reject 
Spiritualism. I have a friend, however, who, although 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 11 

a confessed skeptic, said that, on the whole, he " guessed 
he would rather not be annihilated at death." " Why 
not?" I asked. With spontaneous simplicity he re- 
plied, that he was afraid he would " regret it after* 
wards /" 

In that response I saw the inborn remonstrance, the 
intuitive protest, which the Divine source puts up 
through the human consciousness. Miserable, limping, 
materialistic logic can do nothing against Intuition. It 
does not want to be annihilated, because there is for it 
no such destiny. It conceives of it as possible only to 
what is ponderable and perishable. Converse with 
a sensualist to-morrow, or talk with persons who 
live a materialistic life, who are immersed in quadruped 
habits — ask them, and they seem to know nothing con- 
cerning " spirit" and the " After-Life," simply because 
they have not been awakened to the subject. But a 
true soul-born conversation invariably touches their 
organs of hope. I have never met men or women, 
though buried in the mud and mire of circumstances, 
but would, when spiritually and affectionately ap- 
proached, respond like the strings of an iEolian-harp, 
to the doctrine that the " Summer-Land" belongs to 
them as much as to the finest, most respected, and most 
beautiful person on the globe. 

r The spiritual doctrine teaches that the inmost man 
is " a spirit," which flows through these nerve-sensa- 
tions; which easily contracts and expands these sturdy 
muscles ; which causes the blood to throb throughout the 
frame ; which thinks and reasons ; which feels better, no- 
bler, and purer than the forms, forces, and things about 
it ; which teaches the intellect and the heart to recog- 



12 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

nize something higher than the fleeting circumstances to 
which it is harnessed, and by which it is constrained 
to assist in drawing the burdens of society. That is 
" spirit." It is the invisible presence of the Divine in 
the visible human. It is the only and all-sufficient 
Incarnation. Degradations and depravities never reach 
that which lives within the "spiritual body." Dis- 
cords and great evils are arrested at the surface ; they 
cling and adhere ; they unhappily besmear, cover up, 
disfigure, and sometimes almost break down the cita-' 
del ; but they never get inward far enough to kill the 
proprietor ! 

Let us not forget our major-proposition. If this 
human inmost be " spirit," (comparable to a golden 
image) ; if on the outside of this spirit there be a 
"body;" if this impalpable body be a "substance ;" if 
this inter-affinitized substance require " force" to 
move it ; if space be necessary for such a personality to 
exist in — then, I ask, why may there not be something 
beautiful in the idea of Death? Not dreadful and 
appalling, but really beautiful? Not heart-chilling, 
but truly genial and warming? Not annihilating, but 
uplifting and encouraging to every organ and function 
of the soul ? If this spiritual doctrine be a fiction, then 
you are shut up to atheistical extinguishment when you 
lie down to die. But the opposite road is open before 
you. On this highway you meet your personal apotheo- 
sis ; you rise up and expand ; you go onward and G-od- 
ward through the illimitable space ; and you seek a 
Summer-Land — a place, in which to be / I have no 
ambition to make proselytes. It would not increase 
my private joys to have you believe my cherished 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 13 

thoughts. Better be converted and guided by your own 
Reason and Intuitions. 

The Apostle says there is a " terrestrial" and a 
" celestial." Do you believe it ? I do ; not, however, 
because Paul said it ; but because I find it in the Book 
of Nature. " We are sown in corruption." Every- 
body's spirit knows that to be true. But at last the 
chemistry of death approaches and begins its work- 
then oxygen, and nitrogen, and hydrogen, and magnet- 
ism, and electricity, and the resultant heat, and all 
ponderables that make up our corporeal existence, bid 
"good- by" to each other — then the eyes sink back, and 
the outside senses are closed, and all the elements 
which formed the body bid "an eternal farewell." 
This is real experience. If we exclude the air, by 
placing the body in a hermetically-sealed encasement, 
you can bend over and look upon the yet undecomposed 
figure. That is all ; nothing more. The confined 
atoms and elements have no further interest for each 
other. The pulseless hand is no longer .extended to 
grasp yours ; the once beaming eyes do not open ; the 
ear will not again vibrate to your heart-stricken ap- 
peals or loving accents ; the stiffened nose can no more 
feel the touch and enjoy the perfume of the favorite 
plant. Appalling silence! All is closed forever. 
What a spiritualizing and holy solemnity is that which 
pervades the chamber of Death ! What a dark, fearful, 
haunted room is that where Death is— to those who 
know not this glorious Gospel of the After-Life ! 

But what a blessed roseate atmosphere fills all the 
heavenly spaces — from the death-room onward to 
Summer realms beyond the stars — to those who know 



14r DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

that this basis is established in God's truth ! Such 
mediums and fortunate reasoners have joy and peaa 
within. Their inmost hearts are filled with emotions 
of thanksgiving ; and why ? Because to the seer of 
spiritual truth, " Death is swallowed up in victory.'' 
/The Spiritualist has nothing whatever to do with 
Death. He is emphatically alive — alive and happy 
throughout. Women and men past the "meridian 
of life/ 5 who receive these new spiritual teachings-, are 
kindling and blooming up into youth again ! They see 
that this pathway of truth is paved with perfectly beau- 
tiful scientific facts and doctrines^Progress, leading 
from man's inmost " spirit" to the Summer-Land. 

And now, having disposed of these general consid- 
erations, I will tell you what / have seen. I will not 
give descriptions of phenomena from nry supposition or 
imagination. I suppose that I need not repeat that I 
have had the peri-scopic and clairvoyant ability to see 
through man's iron coating for the past fifteen years ; 
neither need I again remark that, within the last 
twelve years, the result of the exercise of this faculty 
has come to be to me an " education." I have stood by 
the side of many death-beds; but a description of 
manifestations in one case will suffice for the whole. 

I found that the physical body grew negative and 
cold hi proportion as the elements of the spiritual body 
grew warm and positive. Suppose a human being lying 
in the death-bed before you. Persons present not see- 
ing anything of the beautiful processes of the interior, 
are grief-stricken and weeping. This departing one is 
a beloved member of the family. But there, in the 
corner of the room of sorrow, stands one who sees 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 15 

through the outward phenomena presented by the dying 
one, and what do you suppose is visible ? To the outward 
senses the feet are there; the head on the pillow; 
and the hands clasped, out-stretched, or crossed over 
the breast. If the person is dying under or upon 
cotton, there are signs of agony, the head and body 
changing from side to side. Never allow any soul to 
pass out of the physical body through the agony of 
cotton or feathers either beneath or in folds about the 
sufferer. 

Suppose the person is now dying. It is to be a 
rapid death. The feet first grow cold. The clairvoy- 
ant sees right over the head what may be called a 
magnetic halo — an ethereal emanation, in appearance 
golden, and throbbing as though conscious. The body 
is now cold up to the knees and elbows, and the ema- 
nation has ascended higher in the air. The legs are 
cold to the hips, and the arms to the shoulders, and 
the emanation, although it has not arisen higher in the 
room, is more expanded. The death-coldness steals 
over the breast, and around on either side, and the 
emanation has attained a higher position nearer the 
ceiling. The person has ceased to breathe, the pulse is 
still, and the emanation is elongated and fashioned in 
the outline of the human form ! Beneath, it is con- 
nected the brain. The head of th^ person is internally 
throbbing — a slow, deep throb — not painful, but like 
the beat of the sea. Hence the thinking i'acuities are 
rational while nearly every part of the person is dead ! 
Owing to the brain's momentum, I have seen a dying 
person, even at the last feeble pulse-beat, rouse impul- 
sively and rise up in bed to converse with a friend, but 



16 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

the next instant he was gone — his brain being the last 
to yield up the life-principles. 

The golden emanation, which extends up midway to 
the ceiling, is connected with the brain by a very fine 
life-thread. Now the body of the emanation ascends. 
Then appears something white and shining, like a hu- 
man head ; next, in a very few moments, a faint outline 
of the face divine ; then the fair neck and beautiful 
shoulders ; then, in rapid succession, come all parts of 
the new body down to the feet — a bright, shining 
image, a little smaller than this physical body, but a 
perfect prototype or reproduction, in all except its dis- 
figurements. The fine life-thread continues attached to 
the old brain. The next thing is the withdrawal of the 
electric principle. When this thread snaps, the spiritual 
body is free ! and prepared to accompany its guardians 
to the Summer-Land. Yes, there is a spiritual body ; it 
is sown in dishonor and raised in brightness. 

There are persons in the room of mourning ; they 
gather around ; they close the sightless eyes, and 
friendly hands commence those final preparations with 
which the living consecrate the dead. The clairvoyant 
sees the newly-arisen spiritual body move off toward a 
thread of magnetic light which has penetrated the 
room! There is a golden shaft of celestial light touch- 
ing this spiritual body near its head'. That delicate 
chain of love- light is sent from above as a guiding 
power. The spiritual being is asleep — like a just-born, 
happy babe ; the eyes are closed ; and there seems to 
be .no consciousness of existence. It is an unconscious 
slumber. In many cases this sleep is long ; in others, 
not at all. The love-thread now draws the new-born 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 17 

body to the outside door. A thought-shaft descends 
upon one who is busy about the body. This person is 
all at once " impressed" to open the door of the dwell- 
ing and to leave it open for a few moments. Or, some 
other door of egress is opened ; and the spiritual body 
is silently removed from the house. The thread of ce- 
estial attraction gathers about and draws it obliquely 
through the forty-five miles of air. It is surrounded 
by a beautiful assemblage of guardian friends. They 
throw their loving arms about the sleeping one, and on 
they all speed to the world of Light ! Clairvoyants 
and mediums see this ; and they know it is true. Many 
are the witnesses to these celestial facts. 

Again, I remind you that if there is a spiritual 
body, it must be something ; if something, it must have 
an existence and a position somewhere in space ; if in 
space, it must follow the laws of space, including time, 
and have a relative as well as an absolute conscious- 
ness. 

At the battle of Fort Donelson I saw a soldier 
instantly killed by a cannon-ball. One arm was 
thrown cvver the high trees ; a part of his brain went 
a great distance ; other fragments were scattered about 
in the open field ; his limbs and fingers flew among the 
dead and dying. Now what of this man's spiritual 
body ? I have seen similar things many times — not 
deaths by cannon-balls, but analogous deaths by sud- 
den accidents or explosions. Of this person whose body 
was so utterly annihilated at Fort Donelson, I saw that 
all the particles streamed up and met together in the 
air. The atmosphere was filled with those golden par- 
ticles — emanations from the dead — over the whole bat- 



18 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

tie-field. About three-quarters of a mile above the 
smoke of the battle-field — above all the " clouds that 
lowered" upon the hills and forests of black discord, 
there was visible the beautiful accumulation from the 
fingers and toes and heart and brain of that suddenly- 
killed soldier. There stood the new spiritual body 
three-quarters of a mile above all the discord and din 
and havoc of the furious battle ! And the bodies of 
many others were coming up from other directions at 
the same time; so that from half a mile to three and 
five miles in the clear, tranquil air, I could see spiritual 
organisms forming and departing thence in all direc- 
tions. First the face, then the head, then the neck, 
then the shoulders and arms — the whole smaller than 
the natural body, but almost exactly like it — so that 
you could instantly recognize the form and features of 
your old friend, only you would say, " Why, James, 
how" improved you are ! You look brighter and more 
beautiful, don't you ? Your countenance has more quiet 
and love in it." So entirely natural is " the spiritual 
body" which the good God has wisely planned and 
caused- to rise out of this terrestrial filth and corporeal 
corruption ! 

The man so killed — what was his sensation ? It 
was for the time suspended. To him, existence was 
nothing. Just think of the case. He was a healthy, 
stout, strong Illinois mechanic, who had bravely gone 
out with his loaded musket to do battle for the " Stars 
and Stripes" which shall never go down! His sudden 
death was to his consciousness what the hammer is to 
a piece of flint. If a hard flint is struck quick enough, 
it will fly into impalpable powder. If struck with less ' 



DEATH ANB THE AFTER-LIFE. 19 

speed, it would not be crushed nor destroj^ed. It is the 
suddenness of the stroke that surprises " cohesion" in the 
flint, as the cannon-ball for the moment annihilated the 
" sensation" of individuality in the man. Individuality 
usually returns, in cases of sudden death, after a few 
days in the homes of the Summer-Land. They are 
usually guided to some Brotherhood, to some Hos- 
pitalia, or to some open-armed Pavilion, and there they 
are watched and tenderly cared for, as are all who ar- 
rive from lower worlds. When the time approaches for 
the spirit's awakening, then celestial music, or some 
gentle manipulation, or the murmuring melody of dis- 
tant streams, or something like breathing passes made 
over the sleeping one, causes "sensation" to return, 
and thus the new comer is introduced to the Summer- 
Land. 

So Professor Webster was eight days and a half 
unconscious. You know that, in Leverett street jail- 
yard, in Boston, he was hung according to law and 
gospel. As soon as he was pronounced good enough to 
live, they legally and religiously killed him. The sud- 
den concussion struck to the soul of the strong, healthy 
man, and he was instantly jerked out of his individual 
consciousness. For days he was spiritually watched. I 
was at the time stopping at the Brattle House, in Cam- 
bridge. Mount Auburn was my daily walk ; the only 
academy, the only college I sought in which to learn 
these lessons. I went thither every day. I witnessed 
the execution of Professor Webster ; yet 1 was not per- 
sonally present. I saw the organization of his spiritual 
body in the air, and watched its ascension. I saw his sit- 
uation every day between the hours of ten and twelve. 



20 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

I wish now to call your attention to the arrival and 
appearance of different persons in the Summer-Land. 
We find on investigation that all the inhabitants of the 
immortal Spheres were born on Earth, Mars, Jupiter, 
Saturn, and upon the other planets which have gone 
through the process of geologic growth. 

Spirits themselves nearly all refer to terrestrial 
beginnings. But spirit itself is only manifested ; it 
never came out of terrestrial sources. Spirit, per se, is 
the universal, ever-present truth. The organization of 
the spiritual body is another question, which may come 
up for consideration on another occasion. 

It is a well-ascertained fact that persons always 
take places in the Summer-Land in accordance with 
their moral status, and not in accordance with their 
intellectual tastes, inclinations, or social condition. 
Place there is always a question of morals — that 
is whether the person has been, or is, spiritually loyal 
to Truth, Justice, and Liberty, and the divine laws that 
regulate social relations on the higher planes of being ; 
or whether the person has, by circumstances, or by the 
impulse of organization, been unfaithful to principles, 
and particeps criminis ; or whether he is really inno- 
cent, having been the victim of a combination of unpro- 
pitious circumstances, or a sufferer from the fortuitous 
concourse of physical and spiritual accidents. In either 
case, the moral status determines the position and 
gravitation of the person in the Summer-Land. It is 
found that persons who go there with memories of con- 
scious wrong-doing, carry with them just so much 
gravitation — so much personal density and moral dark- 
ness, and persons who have committed involuntary 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 21 

wrong, although partly as the victims of others, yet 
have the same density ; but they do not suffer from the 
internal oppression which the other feels as a part of his 
own conduct. 

The accusing angel, is Memory. The theory that 
all people will sometime go before the bar of God, and 
that there is a systematic heavenly tribunal, is the 
sheerest fancy of a materialistic theology. Both God 
and Nature are with you at all times. The interior 
principle of Justice, whether you know it or not, is the 
ever-present " bar of God" at which you are arraigned 
and tried, and deathless Memory is " the accusing 
angel." It gives you the document setting forth your 
exculpation; or else it explains to you, beyond contro- 
versy, the all-sufficient grounds for your condemna- 
tion. 

The Summer-Land is vastly more beautiful than the 
most beautiful landscape of earth. Celestial waters are 
more limpid, the atmosphere more soft and genial, the 
streams are always musical, and the fertile islands there 
are ever full of meanings. The trees are not exotics. 
The birds are literally a part of the celestial clime, 
every one having its lesson of divine significance. That 
which is nothing to an idiot is a great deal to an intel- 
ligent man. That is true in common things on earth, 
and it is true to a wondrous degree in heaven. * 

When a person enters there by suicide or by mur- 
der, whether legal or illegal, or however else he may 
be introduced, the question is not, how he came there, 
but what brought him ? A man who was not strong 
enough to keep another from doing him a wrong — (to 
say nothing of one who was not strong enough to keep 



22 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

from doing a deliberate wrong to others) is a subject 
of philanthropic care-takings and discipline. According 
to the heavenly code I ought to have something more 
than the power to be loyal to Justice and Right. I 
must be strong enough to keep any brother from injur- 
ing me, and that without ever lifting a physical weapon 
before him. My spirit should keep from harm the 
soul of my brother who may be yet encased in bad 
circumstances, and moved by a propulsive organization. 

In the Summer-Land these delicate ideas and finely- 
shaded moral distinctions are recognized. And you will 
find yourself under a new Government — a God-code, 
instead of the laws of earthly Judges and Legislators. 
You will be surprised, and yet, most likely, you will 
say, " It is about as I had supposed." 

Religionists are highly astonished because they are 
not taken immediately into the presence of the great 
Jehovah, or cast down in the low places where they 
fry souls in cheap brimstone. Some people who have 
been in the Summer-Land for years are still prayer- 
fully expecting that the "great day of judgment" will 
come, and that they will either be " caught up" to a 
higher glory, or " snatched down" to some lower depth. 
When these persons communicate to mediums, they 
teach the notions of orthodoxy, even in the old Calvin- 
istic Imd perpendicular style, and you would be con- 
strained to exclaim — "What contradictions! Am I 
to believe in Spiritualism when the mediums tell all 
sorts of contradictory things ?" And popular newspa- 
per men say: " These Spiritual things should have no 
conflict in -them." "Spirits should understand their 
own world as accurately as earthly minds understand 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 23 

common affairs." So says my political friend Horace 
Greeley, and so say others who reason in that superfi- 
cial way. Now, look at earthly reports about the 
details of this war ! Behold what contradictions ! 

Is it reasonable to demand universal sameness 
Is it natural to suppose that the man who went up from 
Africa, and the native of Turkey should each report 
from the next Sphere exactly what an American would 
who died the day before yesterday, with all the twists 
and advantages of education in his memory ? Same- 
ness is what men demand who call themselves " rea- 
sonable !" 

The point now is, the evils of general society and 
the evils of individual passion, the unclean spirits and hu- 
man demons, originate in the mud and mire of outward 
circumstances and hereditary organization. These 
mold and fashion mankind according to their own 
image and likeness. Sweet and good circumstances, 
however thickly they may cluster about, amount to 
almost nothing to a bad mental organization. I have 
heard worldly men say that they would be happy if 
they could have this and that — carpets, flowers, pic- 
tures, fast horses, and a great house in the city. Such 
men have something wrong in the head. They were 
born in bankruptcy and social discord. Society, to 
mch persons, is merely a fleeting rush and a momentary 
flutter. " Circumstances" do not much control such cha- 
racters, because their fathers and mothers gave them 
propulsive mental organizations, which no combination 
of circumstance has yet been able to fashion into bet- 
ter shapes. But this discord in character simply 
adheres ; it does not inhere ; hence on this point we 
2 



24 DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 

differ with the whole religious world. Modern libera] 
clergymen are almost with us. Total depravity has 
gone down in. the market, notwithstanding all the city 
evils and the tremendous civil war. There is scarcely 
a minister who will reaffirm the old doctrine of Baxter, 
Calvin, and John Knox. They get quietly over it. 
They somehow feel ashamed of having accused " the 
golden image I" It looks like an unprovoked slander 
against the finest piece of work that ever came from 
the heavens to mankind. I do not wonder that clergy- 
men are " ashamed" of total depravity. They will 
presently be ashamed of many other things. 

We hold that these evils, these errors, these sins 
which arise out of the abdomen, from the region of 
physical phrenology, from the region of conditions, and 
out of social circumstances, will increase the spirit's 
gravitation beyond the grave. By your status you 
elect yourself at death to the place where you will be 
at home — be it good, bad, or indifferent — you will be 
in your own proper and congenial " place," as are the 
fishes in the water and the birds in the air. If you feel 
mentally satisfied, like the sightless fish in the Ken- 
tucky cave, to dwell amid truths without eyes, the good 
Father and Mother will have no objection. So in the 
Summer-Land, where there are infinitely more truthful- 
ness and freedom. If a spirit choose to be foolish, 
there is no arbitrary law against his choice.. But, ever 
and anon, he comes under the genial influences of 
celestial teachers, and thus, slowly, he is brought out 
from his interior hiding-places, and his mind is at last 
fully awakened. Randall's Island, near this cit , gives 



DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. 25 

off youthful candidates who receive the attentions of 
very sweet and beautiful celestial missionaries. 

Happiness very slowly comes to one who persists in 
the states of discord. Beautiful music, the fragrance 
of flowers, the luxurious melody of singing birds, and 
the musical voices of many waters, come only when you 
internally deserve them. Ten thousand years may pass 
before one's internals are sufficiently pure and bright. 
Some will find on their spirit-surfaces a shadow, a 
feeling of unrest, and an appearance of nebulous black- 
ness. And there are persons in the Summer-Land who 
have an atmosphere surrourding their spiritual bodies 
that similar characters would be ashamed to wear in 
this world. It is all the logical consequence of wrong 
and evil conditions in which the persons lived and died. 
But there is no despair among the leaders and members 
of the celestial Brotherhoods. 

Of these, and concerning domestic scenes in tb i 
After-life, I shall hereafter speak. 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND- 



H In my Father's house are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would 
have told you." 

It does not as yet seem to be a part of human 
belief that the race should make progress as rapidly, as 
broadly, as completely in spiritual realities as in science 
and the common concerns of a very common world. 
The idea generally prevails that the race must repose 
on " faith," and stand eternally still in all matters per- 
taining to the mysteries of God, while it is esteemed 
right to grow and improve in all things else and in- all 
other directions. This subtile absurdity has crawled 
all the way through every creed in the religious world. 

All progress in science and general education within 
the last century points toward the discovery and dis- 
closures of the Summer-Land. All the important and 
refining sciences, which verge on the spiritual, have 
come up within the last quarter of a century. Our 
navigators have within the last hundred years plowed 
through all the seas of the globe, have sought know- 
ledge of the obscure, sequestered rivers, in remotest 
countries, and many of them have returned to- tell us 
faithfully of their scenes and experiences. Only now 
and then a man has fallen upon the altar of discovery. 
Every such spirit has been carried through the North- 
West passage to a worid of grander dimensions. The 
interiors of the earth have been evoked. In answer to 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 27 

practical prayers they have divulged their arcana, and 
their inmost secrets have become our every-day facts, 
" familiar as household words." Great mountains have 
been scaled, and distant heavenly planets have been 
measured; the expansiveness and - perfections of the 
universe, above us and around, have been searched and 
mapped by our astronomers; and the familiar " sun" 
has been induced to become party to the finest pencil- 
ings, so that when we stand before the photographic 
magician, coming within the field of his camera and at 
the focus of his mystic glass, we seem to be facing a 
supernatural realm. The light instantly projects a sha- 
dow, paints your picture, and perchance also that of a 
departed friend, on the susceptible surface of an insen- 
sate plate. Thus all human progress in the imitative, 
in the speculative, and in the absolute, demonstrate the 
practicability of further discoveries with reference to 
the great future home of the spirit. We find, in search- 
ing history, that human nature has been blessed, ever 
and anon, with inspirations that convey the elements 
and rudiments of truths that bloom in higher degrees 
of life. Instead, therefore, of rejecting the germs of 
mythology or the teachings of poetry, we are learning 
rapidly to receive them as essentially significant. In- 
stead of impoverishing ourselves by a ruthless rejection 
of the multitudinous productions in the art, and science, 
and poetry, and music of the past, we secure to our- 
selves great opulence by learning that human genius, in 
every age, when at the moment of its incubation, pro- 
jects the germs and foregleams of great truths which 
live beyond the tomb; so that poetry and music more 
especially, and the singing of beautiful birds, and the 



28 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

breathings of flowers, and the loving songs of laughing 
rivulets — and the great thoughts that come pouring into 
your ideality from these sturdy and grave mountains — 
all enter into the rudiments of that higher education 
which is designed to be completed beyond the stars. 

f\ affirm, therefore, that there is no absolute imagi- 
nation — that a total falsehood is an impossibility ; that 
the finest imagination is, in its spiritual essence, the 
nearest approach to an actual truth. However gro- 
tesque, however absurd, yet divest the inspiration ol 
absurdity and' grotesqueness, and lo ! you find tin 
sweetest whispering of the eternal God.j 

If you will permit me to speak with reference to 
myself, I will say that I have never read a poet in my 
life ; not, I think, more than three pages of any such 
writings. (I have had an object in this.) But I do not 
expect that this will be true of me eight or ten years 
hence ; for I now intend to cultivate some acquaintance 
with the externals of these inspirations. For, as I 
grow, I desire more and more to know, in the external, 
what the great writers and thinkers of the world have 
done ; and already I feel grateful for what I have 
interiorly seen and clairvoyantly learned in the great 
human sphere about me. I have not read " The Epic 
of the Starry Heavens/' by the imaginative and inspired 
Harris, fearing that, should I read his production, it 
might enter into my memory, and thus become a portion 
of some subjective apprehensions or objective visions of 
the future. 

As many of you know, I have had a peculiar expe- 
rience ; and it is well for a moment, in justice to what 
I shall hereafter say, to allude to it. There is positively 



SCENES US THE SL^MER-LAND. 29 

no imagination in what I shall disclose, but I leave the 
philosophy and the science of the experience to some 
future occasion. My reason for affirming that it is not 
imagination is, that I started with the conviction thai 
the kingdom of heaven was a beautifully walled-up 
city, paved with gold, with a vast throne in it some- 
where ; on the topmost throne the great " Father" and 
Creator of men, to the right the " Son," and on the 
opposite side the "Holy Ghost;" while in the front, 
and all around, extending as far back as the limited popu- 
lation of the " saved" could extend — an amphitheater 
with no galleries, but all part of one immensely great 
proscenium; and that the enjoyments and occupations of 
the saints and saintesses consisted in an everlasting 
Methodist protracted meeting ! No eating, no sleeping, no 
drinking, no amusements; but praying and singing; next 
singing and praying again; and lastly, just for a change 
of the programme, praying and singing ! While over 
the parapets, near the resplendent embattlements of the 
golden wall, one could see rolling and curling up, not 
the torment of the condemned segar-smokers merely, 
but the accumulated black clouds of unmitigated misery 
from the over-populated regions of the " Devil and his 
angels" ! 

I think this orthodox picture, or something akin, 
has been in your thoughts many times. This notion 
was started early with me. But when the time came 
to pass into the " interior" by the inductions of the 
magnetic process, my thoughts soon changed. Yery 
rapidly I lost all interest in everything that I had 
heard on the subject of religion ; and thus I remained, 
not desiring to acquire further external knowledge^ 



30 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

This condition lasted for some four years. At length 
the time came to divulge, in book form, what had been 
accumulated by the visions of clairvoyance. / Clairvoy- 
ance is the mind's telescopic-power of bringing distant 
objects close to the mind — a positive and perfectly 
certain faculty — a natural power of bringing the details 
of a distant scene as near as the flowers in the garden 
just beyond the window.^ However distant it seemed 
at first, the object or scene could be, by cultivation of 
the faculty, brought so near as to invite your footsteps. 
At length I became proprietor, so to say, of this cerebro- 
telescopic faculty, which before had only been loaned 
to me for occasional use, as by an artificial process. 
When I came into full and intelligent possession of 
this mental instrument, then began a series of private 
visional experiments, which I have continued, from 1847 
to the present time. 

And now a word concerning my habits with refer- 
ence to these things — for my physical methods, I think, 
have a direct and important bearing upon the question. 
Whenever I wish to obtain these visional results by 
voluntary telescopic clairvoyance, I do not seek opium 
or hasheesh ; neither Arabian, Hebrew, Bohemian, or 
Gipsy incantations ; nor do I clog my digestive organs, 
nor highly stimulate my nerves; but there comes (as 
Daniel expresses it,) a period of " fasting," and of con- 
stant, though not over-urgent desire. Sometimes I 
have been obliged to continue this from four to six 
weeks before my nerve-system was perfectly still, my 
blood cool, my senses indifferent to the outer world. 
Then I could concentrate the perceptive faculties and 
bring into action all the requisite organs, and, under 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. g 

the control of intuition, direct them upon remote earthly 
objects or scenes super-terrestrial. If* I had taken for 
food what is called a "generous diet," or habitually 
engaged in these mental exercises at night, I should in 
either case have distrusted my discoveries. But I 
almost never have such an experience as a dream. 

I never attempt to get visions in the night, " when 
deep sleep falleth upon men." My exercises, on the 
contrary, are between six o'clock in the morning and 
twelve o'clock of the same day. If I do not obtain my 
clairvoyant or other experiences during those hours, 
they do not come that day ; for I do not then seek 
them. But if the spirit-way is widely opened, and I 
am- warmed and made enthusiastic by what I have seen 
during those hours, and feel, in my enthusiasm, that the 
after part of the day would be a luxurious gratification 
if it were similarly appropriated, I always say to my- 
self, as a law, " Thus far, and no farther ; never infringe 
upon the afternoon or night." Consequently I do not 
write anything, or dream anything, or think anything 
of great consequence, during the after portions of the 
day ; but live in a common social way from twelve 
o'clock, M., to six o'clock on the following morning. 
This has been my mental and clairvoyant habit for years. 
I have found it to be an orderly, cool, philosophical, 
successful way of getting the best results, the largest 
amount of spiritual happiness, and the true secret of 
keeping free and healthy and young in heart and 
body and head. I can truthfully say that it has re- 
quired more self-control to repress the waves of 
heavenly joy and enthusiastic happiness that have rolled 
through my mind, and the effort has more taxed mv 
2* 



32 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

mental powers, than have all the disappointments and 
inevitable trials which have come to me in the course 
of my history. Sometimes I have been powerfully 
Tempted to indulge the state of clairvoyance a little too 
long; but never have been able to sustain, with profit 
and happiness, more than three hours of such occult 
investigations and exalted contemplations. During 
those mysterious hours, however, I have acquired facts 
and knowledge of things that would make an extensive 
volume, even if written out in the fewest and poorest 
words ; and yet, when attempting to record the scenes 
and facts from memory, the expression would be the 
coarsest shell — the mere physical precipitation — of the 
spiritual realities that were thus born in the mind — 
beautiful scenes and great principles struggling through 
the incarcerations of language to come in contact with 
the memories and to become part of the judgment of 
my fellow-men yet in the ordinary condition. I men- 
tion these things simply because they are psychological 
facts, and should have important bearings upon the 
general question of bodily and mental habits in con- 
nection with the exercises of the mind. 

I have met persons who said to me, " Why, Mr. 
Davis, are you not all the time conscious of the presence 
of the spiritual world ?" And my answer has been, 
"No; I could not be and live." Others have asked, 
"Are you not personally and frequently in contact with 
spiritual beings?" And I have replied, " No. I could 
not be frequently in contact, and yet keep physically 
healthy and be mentally able to attend to the ordinary 
duties of my life." And again some ask: "Are you 
not constantly and consciously associated with ideas. 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 33 

and thinking of great principles V' And others seem 
to think that I should appear uniformly abstract, and 
look ghostly, like the last remains of an evangelical 
minister. Far from all these opinions are the facts ; 
for I very substantially feel my feet within my boots, and 
my bodily sensations are strictly normal — are as solid 
and natural as those of any person in this assem- 
blage, and I am generally free from disease and 
abnormal conditions. 

And yet my cerebro-telescopic experiences of the 
super-mundane world have been an unbroken epic — the 
grandest spiritual poem! Indeed, it may not be safe 
to contemplate the celestial picture in its boundless 
affluence. For now, while reverting in memory to 
these things, I feel a heat gathering on the brain and 
quickening the thoughts, like one who has realized the 
focal concentration of the rays of immortal light, and 
felt their sublime breathings upon and within every 
fiber and faculty of his spirit. 

I will speak to you, therefore, as an observer to- 
night, and not as a "Seer." I will give you, in my 
own way, an account of things and places seen beyond 
the stars. Bayard Taylor would in like manner testify 
(though I shall not, perhaps, be able to use as good 
language as he) concerning his travels and discoveries 
in foreign climes. I shall discourse to you somewhat 
as does Von Humboldt in his Cosmos, giving you ac- 
counts of great mountains and valley scenes, of streams 
traced to their sources, of distant lands and tempera- 
tures, of different peoples, climates, and soils. And 
what I shall relate is as strictly in harmony with the 
facts of science, with the laws of philosophy, and the 



34: SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

developments of astronomy ; and I hold myself ready 
to reconcile what I may utter to-night with all scienti- 
fic and philosophical discoveries in astronomy, or 
in chemistry, or in the laws of light or color, or in the 
nature of substances, or in the secrets of growth, or in 
the properties of material organization ; for I do not 
think that spiritual truth is irreconcilable, incompati- 
ble, or out of harmony with the real laws and dis- 
coveries of science. I will leave all this, however, for 
another time and more fitting occasion, 

The Summer-Land is a world every way as actual 
as this. If you had clairvoyance enough to see into a 
person when very sick, and observe when the process 
of recuperation begins, and if you could also understand 
what is really meant by " recuperation," then you would 
instantly obtain a philosophical conception of how the 
Summer-Land could be developed. I believe all edu- 
cated physicians know (at least all spiritual physicians 
receive the incontrovertible doctrine) that what we 
term the " physical substances" which make up the 
physical avoirdupois of the body, are exuded, so to ex- 
press it — fabricated and emitted from the innermost of 
the nervous system — put out from within, and not laid 
on from without : that when a person is recuperating 
from disease (all day-exercises and bodily wastings 
result in disease, or in broken-down blood and tissue 
which sleep removes,) there is always a thoughtlessness 
of the brain and also a perfect stillness in the voluntary 
organs. Only in such moments is the nervous system 
under the recuperating and up-building action of the 
innermost. In such moments of physical repose, the 
spirit, working through the life of the nerves, makes 



bcehes Of raE summer-lasd. 

and multiplies the tissu -: i . . a t : : whic h the strong 
heavy parts x>me. The tissues are built up out of the 

^ible life of the nervous system. But what m:: s 
the nervous system? These physical physicians can 

e the nerves. But there is some hidden principle 
within the nerves, within the electricity and dynamic 

of the nerves, r'.ihin the mellow magnetism which 

5ts the fine electricity — something within everything 
in jroa that is human and interior — a principle of recu- 
peration known only by the power you feel, and by the 
occasional -ense of immensity in your personal ex: :- 
ence! This hidden principle lies sequestered in y 
lea st nerves, in oar finest points of life and sensation. 
It gives you all your prodigious power of will. From 
it flow all your moral feelings. It throbs througL all 
parts of your being : it cleaves through its magu:-::: 
and electrical ve^: u . ~. ;ts :n the nerves, out-breathes 
and condenses the tissues, and ultimately and suc- 
sessively elaborates all the physical organs which make 
up the corporeal system. 

N ] W, the principle of growth is identical with the 
unfoldment 6f the Summer-Land. I do not wish to 

lin you upon this point, but merely lesire to Bx 
your thoughts on the terrestrial dynamics of the plain ts. 
Terrestrial magnetisms, terrestri I : I a :: icities, and 

lever else men call "imponderables, constitute the 
n jrvc is system :■: this physical universe. The univri il 
nervous system holds the same relation to matter as the 
nervous system of the spirit to the physical pairs : 
body. Every physician knows that the first .lining 

a human being is a point of nerve wrapp-:. : 
matter. This point of nerve is the starting-poini 



36 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

life. Next come the tissues, the fine thickness on ths 
outside, then the blood begins to flow, and so on, more 
and more concrete, until the full equipped outer body 
itself is formed and ready for parturition. 

The spiritual world is made from life-points sent 
out from the chemical coalitions of the planets. Thus 
the Summer-Land becomes a literal truth in harmony 
with the nervo-astronomy of the universal system. 

It may seem to your imaginations that this spiritual 
world is afar off — that it must be a vast and remote 
existence, because astronomers have not peered into it. 
Lut it is my belief that astronomers, with their physical 
instruments, will, one of these fortunate future days, 
recognize the Summer-Land, and I believe, furthermore, 
that astronomers will see landscapes and physical scenes 
there more clearly than those vague images which arc 
now revealed through telescopes, as existing upon the 
moon and different rolling stars. 

No, the spirit- world is not remote. We move every 
moment in its presence. This earthly planet itself rolls 
in its orbit under the observation of the inhabitants of 
the Spirit-Land. The vast includes the little. The 
Summer-Land is the comprehensive sphere. Astro- 
nomically speaking, the earth is on one side of that vast 
galaxy of suns and planets termed « the milky-way," 
and directly across this great physical belt of stars, we 
find the sublime repose of the Summer-Land ; and this 
is but the receptacle of the immortal inhabitants who 
ascend from the different planets that belong to our so- 
lar system. These planets all have celestial rivers 
which lead from them toward the heavenly shores. As 
sach organ in the human body holds its physical rela- 



SCENES EN" THE SUMMER-LAND. 37 

Hon to the brain by means of nerves and blood-rivers, 
so these different planets in the physical universe hold 
a currental, magnetic, and electrical relation to the 
Summer-Land, which corresponds to the brain. How 
is it that strength rises to the brain of a man from what 
he eats ? It is by means of circulation. And this cir- 
culation is regulated by the law of attraction and 
repulsion ? How do spirits travel from these physical 
globes to their homes in the Summer-Land, and re- 
versely, from the Summer-Land to persons and placea 
on the planets ? 

Answer : By circulation. And here, too, magnetic 
river-circulation is regulated by attraction and repul- 
sion ! Thus the analogy may be extended ad in- 
finitum. 

I did not particularly notice until 1853, that differ- 
ent seasons of the year, and different positions of our 
planet in its orbit around the sun, yield a different 
clairvoyant vision of the Summer-Land. I found that 
an observation made in mid-winter afforded a very dif- 
ferent aspect of the Spirit-World from that which would 
be obtained in May, July, or November : and further- 
more, in the same year, I first noticed that the condition 
of the observer made a difference in what was visible ; 
therefore it became necessary to adopt methods and 
conditions which would enable the clairvoyant to mark 
the particular sections of the Summer-Land that came 
within the range of vision in accordance with the dif- 
ferent months of the year. From that time to this, I 
have been regulated by the discovery that the rolling 
of this terrestrial planet, in its orbit around the sun, 
affects the sweep of the clairvoyant sight in many in- 



38 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

stances, furnishing unexpectedly a new conception of a 
familiar scene, and bringing to light other territories 
in the heavens before unknown. The Spirit-Land has 
a firmament. It is circular, and its vast firmament is 
filled with stars, suns, and satellites. It rolls in the 
blue immensity. The sky there is not without its clouds. 
They change very much like the clouds of our tropics; 
yet they do not much resemble them. The changes are 
like those in southern skies ; but the clouds themselves 
are very different. 

Among my first observations in the direction of the 
Spirit-Land, I discerned a river which seemed to flow 
across the open aerial space and pour into the far dis- 
tant bosom of that heavenly world. It was a river 
made of various streams that flowed out from planets, 
which blended and widened and expanded into a great 
sea, and thus became the flowing element of perfect 
beauty in the land of spirits. That celestial river is as 
visible to the clairvoyant perception as the Hudson, the 
East River, or any other water that can be seen by the 
natural eye on the globe. It flows away far beyond 
any distance that I have power to trace. It seemed 
like a celestial Gulf Stream, " but whither it goeth I 
know not." I only know that it is one of the sources 
of unutterable melody. It seems to give out music from 
all its variegated margins, and to yield lessons also, 
because . on several occasions, vast congregations were 
visible on the shores, learning something beautiful con- 
cerning its harmonious sounds. What they learned I 
cannot tell. I only saw that after listening and con- 
versing and reposing for an hour for what seemed to 
me to be that length of time,) they rose all at once; 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 39 

they seemed to be many thousands — a vast assemblage 
— and then also arose their songs, and those songs, 
blending with the music of that wonderful water, 
seemed to me to fill the whole universe with melody J 
So full of joy was my heart that I lost all spiritual 
power either to see or hear ; and so suddenly did I re- 
turn to the common state that I could not but ask the 
person who just then entered the room, whether he had 
heard that music ! " No," he replied. " Indeed !" 
said I. " Didn't you hear anything V " No." So real 
and so distinct was the sound I could scarcely believe 
my friend's denial. 

In 1854 I had an opportunity, for the first time, to 
contemplate a celestial garden. It was unlike any- 
thing I had ever seen in this world. The Garden of 
the Hesperides, of which we dream, only vulgarly rep- 
resents the beautiful fact. When I saw the immense 
landscape and the innumerable beauties that come up 
from the soil, and the labyrinth of leafage which 
gathered upon the vision to the right of the scene, I 
could not but ask, " Will some one tell me the extent V 9 
After a few moments a cerebro-telegraphic dispatch 
came into -the mind, whispering distinctly, " It would 
reach from here to Scotland — near four thousand miles 
in length — five hundred miles in width." It seemed to 
be a far-extending avenue of flowers and beautiful 
trees, and there seemed no limit to the number of 
persons that were walking leisurely, lovingly, arm-in- 
arm ; and oh ! tke thousands of beautiful children that 
were at play through the devious labyrinths of that 
vast heavenly park ! 

Now let us reason for a moment. Christians be- 



49 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

lieve, or profess to believe, that, " In our Father's 
house are many mansions/' This faith is based in 
reality, or else it is false, and there is, or there is not a 
mansion or a house " eternal in the heavens." Is that 
Scriptural language figurative, or is it literal ? Does 
it mean anything ? You, who so strenuously believe 
the Bible, say that I am an infidel. But I now ask you 
who is the infidel ? Your Christian poetry says: 

" There is a land of pure delight, 
Where saints immortal reign ; 
Eternal clay excludes the night, 
And pleasures banish pain." 

Now I ask every professed Christian, Do you stand 
prepared to repudiate the fact affirmed in your poetry ? 
Who is infidel to-night ? Your highest authority in the 
Church and in the Bible said, " In my Father's house 
are many mansions." He said also that that house was 
built without hands. Do you believe it ? Do you be- 
lieve anything on the subject ? If you do, then you 
have at least the rudiments of an education which you 
ought to have perfected by this time into some reasona- 
ble comprehension of what the Father has, " without 
hands," spanned out for you beneath the unfolded 
heavens. 

But to return. In the trees of that vast celestial 
Park I heard the songs of birds, such as I had not 
heard from any species of birds in this world. In 1855 
the songs of these birds first caught the clairaudient ear. 
This power of hearing, superadded to the telescopic, 
gave all the more perfection and actualness to the ob- 
servation. These birds resemble, to some extent, the 
birds of this planet under the equator. In plumage, 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 41 

however, they were unlike. I saw celestial birds that 
excluded all rays except the yellow. They were singu- 
larly, wonderfully yellow — quite different from the hue 
of the canary. It seemed as though composed of yellow 
crystalline air. I could see the nervous systems of 
these birds — their whole physical interior — they were 
so transparent. They were, I observed, swift in their 
flight. I also saw a bird which excludes all rays save 
that of blue, and that looked like a diamond cut out of 
pure, ethereal immensity. I never could have imagined 
anything so marvelously expressive of pure, immense, 
heavenly love ! This particular bird was a representa- 
tive, I saw, of universal private affection. The yellow 
bird was also a representative. It had a great mean- 
ing — the mellower affection which comes from wisdom. 
The songs of these birds echoed from the Concilium — a 
place where minds who had gathered from the past, 
occasionally meet as in a Brotherhood for delibera- 
tions. 

1 inquired concerning the flowers, of which there 
were innumerable varieties, different from any that I 
had seen on earth, except one, which somewhat resem- 
bled the violet. All others were new and wonderful. 
There were also curious vines that grew all over very 
lofty trees ; instead of leaves, the vines gave out count- 
less throbbing flowers. Each corolla pulsated like a 
harp, and when I looked more intimately and carefully, 
1 saw that every flower seemed to be conscious that it 
was part of a Divine life and plan. 

Along the River, of which I first spoke, I saw what 
appeared" to he grasses, but they were not such as I have 
eeec on. earth, and yet they were emanations from the 



42 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

heavenly soil. They were what might be termed mossy- 
grasses, but the fibers were silken, and reflected the 
rainbow-colors of the diamond. The exquisitely fine 
fibers, composing the mossy grasses along the margin 
of the aerial Gulf Stream, gave off a purple brilliancy 
which was mellowed softly down, until it seemed to lose 
itself in a sort of atmospheric immensity of its own ! As 
I gazed, it seemed to blend and lose itself within innu- 
merable seas of color ! I have tried to get some repeti- 
tion of the effect of that color by visiting our Galleries 
of Painting ; but I have seen nothing like it on canvas 
in the pictures of any earthly artist. Church's " Heart 
of the Andes" — the deep, rich, immense colors of the 
Cordilleras, and the infinite repose expressed in the 
marvelous depths of that picture — seem to be the merest 
physicalism compared with that which, in 1855, was 
first reflected upon the cerebro-telescopic eye ! And 
then, to make sure, twice in that year it was sought and 
seen again, and also several times since ; and in every 
instance it only became more perfect, different only in 
additions — no disappearing, no transformations, no 
"shifting scenes." 

Sometimes I have visited the scenic transformations, 
as exhibited in the New York theaters. I once went 
to Laura Keene's, to see if I could, by witnessing the 
representation of fairy lands, &c, get something like a 
hint of that better country. The display was unsatis- 
factory, though brilliant and successful. In those dra- 
matic representations of spirits, and in attempted 
supernatural exhibitions on the stage, I have never seen 
anything at all to be compared with what is positive 
reality in the other world. The dissolving views 5 whki 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 43 

are exhibited on the stage as best illustrations of the 
spiritual, I have never seen in the Spirit-Land. The 
magical opening and closing of flowers, for example, 
and spirits coming out of unfolding plants, and the elves 
and little sprites which are dramatically represented, 
as in the myths and superstitions of Ireland and of the 
ancient Britons, are nothing like the permanent repre- 
sentations of the Spirit-World. Flowers never magic- 
ally open there, and plants do no't give off little human 
beings. I never saw trees changing their location or 
leafage ; never saw anything that looked like transmu- 
tation or enchantment ; but instead, solid, sturdy life 
and progressive growth in the " house not made with 
hands." 

There is an Island, which I first saw distinctly in 
1857. I was in Buffalo at the time. I found by con- 
versing witli a Brother who had gone there — James 
Victor Wilson — that they called it the Island of Akro- 
panamede. It takes its name from the purposes to 
which it is devoted. It is situated in a very vast body 
of what would be called « water" in the earth-land. 
There is a spring on that island which they call " Poril- 
leum," and there is a beautiful cluster of springs some 
distance to the west which they name " The Porilla ;" 
and every one of these springs gives off exceedingly 
sweet musical sounds, which are full of unutterable sig- 
nificance. Those harmonious notes blend with the 
streamlets which lose themselves in a beautiful river 
that flows along by the flowery paths of the Hospitalia. 
This name is given to one of the temples where persons 
who had become attached to some particular thing in 
this world, so that it had become an infatuation with 



44 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

them, are taken to be cured. It is one of the many at- 
tractive sanitary temples of reform on that beautiful 
Island. The infatuation of a person is named " Toleka." 
When a person from earth has an infatuation so strong 
as to preclude his taking interest in anything else, he 
is invited to these springs and to the temples. The 
teacher-physicians who are appointed on that Island 
are called " Apozea." I never heard or saw such words 
before, and do not know whether they correspond with 
any earthly language. I obtained the orthography of 
the words from Brother Wilson, who pronounced them 
over and over again in my listening ear. [See end 
of this volume.] There are many spirit-physicians on 
the Isle of Akropanamede. 

In a very different portion of the Spirit-Land, seen 
in the year 1856, I saw an island called " Rosalia," 
which is a region of great splendor in the midst of 
islands of less attractiveness. On that island dwelt; 
persons who had never lived upon the planet Earth. It 
was said that there were on that attractive spot per- 
sons who were from the just maturing planets of Mer- 
cury and Venus. The description of that island, which 
I cannot now give in detail, would interest you, since it 
was so different from everything else that was then 
visible. 

One of the attractive islands near Rosalia is called 
«'• Batellos," because some educated Greeks sought its 
retirements, soon after their arrival in the Spirit-Laud, 
as a suitable place to celebrate the advent on earth 
of Plato's doctrine of the Deity, including his theory of 
"Ideas." 

"Poleski 5 ' is an island, seen for the first time in 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 45 

1857, situated in another part of the Spirit-Land. It 
is frequently visited by former inhabitants of this earth, 
especially those who are still searching for " ancient 
wisdom,"' and who believe not at all in the theories and 
education of the moderns. They think that God's truth 
must be learned from those who lived in the remote 
past. To such that island is a favorite haunt — not the 
" haunt of Poets," but of those who still seek for wis- 
dom through ancient views and old opinions. 

There is another island called "Alium," intimately 
related to the one just mentioned, where certain ancients 
went to form themselves into a Brotherhood, composed 
of persons who were born long prior to the origin of 
the Old Testament. 

" Lonalia" is the name of an island, seen for the 
first time by me in 1859, which is inhabited by young- 
persons from the earth who died as Orphans. On this 
heavenly spot they are introduced to those who are 
their parents in spirit, but of whom they were not al- 
ways physiologically born on earth. In this behold a 
mystery. 

In the Spirit-Land countless families are visible. It 
seems that certain spirits are even more gregarious than 
are people in this world. Many have strong attach- 
ments of consanguinity at first, and then, forgetting or 
losing such earthly attachments, they seem to dwell, 
like old persons, in memories, and particularly enjoy 
revelations from and conversations with those who have 
lived in the Spirit-Land for many centuries. 

If you should get a communication from any one of 
these spirits, telling you that he lived in a particular 
house, in a certain street, you might be considerably 



46 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

misled, because, although they live in the Spirit- World, 
and in plain sight of this earth, yet they believe in 
memory only, and do not take interest in present actual 
things and circumstances. 

The royal circle of the Foli is a Brotherhood very 
much resembling our American Shakers. On one occa- 
sion it was observed that the members of this Brother- 
hood corresponded in spirit and faith with the Shaker 
communities, and that these were really baptized thus 
with the presence of what men call the Holy Ghost, 
making them feel more deeply assured that they were 
right in religious and communal matters. From this 
circumstance you see that people after death do not 
become instantly endowed with wisdom and freedom. 
The Spirit- World, in short, is just like this world, on a 
higher plane. 

There is a temple called the " Concilium," which, I 
believe, means the temple of affectionate thought and 
practical wisdom. In this Concilium are frequently 
and mostly heard the voices of women. They believe 
and teach principles different from those peculiar Greeks 
who gathered upon the distant islands. In this temple 
very cultured spirits assemble for the purpose of ac- 
quiring information concerning what is best to accom- 
plish upon the planet Earth, or upon Mars, or Jupiter, 
or Saturn — for all these planetary populations need to 
be frequently visited — and there, in that beautiful tem- 
ple, are gathered the wisdom, intuition, affection, hopes, 
love, poetry, and music, of multitudes of the sweetest, 
happiest, truest, most earnest and philanthropic women 
that have lived on the planet Earth. These women, 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 47 

with their companions, gather there occasionally for 
information and deliberation. 

There is a class of persons in the Spirit- World who 
are great travelers. They are almost like our gipsies. 
They form themselves into affinitive groups, and, har- 
monizing with the circulating rivers between the dif- 
ferent planets, go on protracted journeys through innu- 
merable scenes, and do not return to their pavilions 
for many years. Katie, my former companion, came 
to me, (as reported in the " Penetralia,") and 
said that she was then to start upon a journey ; she 
knew not whither, nor when she would return, and she 
immediately began the journey, and has not yet 
returned, or I should have heard from her. She had 
joined the group of excursionists, without knowing 
whither they were going. 

Mothers have inquired to know concerning their 
little ones; whether children born before perfect matu- 
rity become persons in the Summer-Land. It is found 
that infants born from six to eight weeks before Na- 
ture's time, continue on in the Spirit- World, slowly and 
surely acquiring the personal growth they would have 
attained had they lived in the body the full number of 
years. Mothers, therefore, who go to the Spirit-World 
to meet their little darlings, must be somewhat intuitive 
to know and recognize the child that was spirit-born 
without a moment's earthly life. Again, there are wo- 
men who have had many children, who have, neverthe- 
less, never been mothers I I was amazed when first I 
learned this, and I looked into the subject day after 
day, and persistently inquired with the greatest par- 
ticularity, in order to ascertain the exact truth. In 



4S SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

1858 I found, to my astonishment, that there were on 
earth certain women and men with families who have 
never yet known maternity or paternity. 1 found that 
real mothers conceive with the whole life and love of 
the heart, and that real fathers produce from the vitalic 
energies and magnetisms of the whole brain ; and that 
no blood-and-passion relations amount to anything to 
the progenitors beyond the tomb. So, as a consequence, 
it is seen that all the offspring of your legalized de- 
baucheries, your blood-and-passion, are likely to be 
strangers to you, and the real children of others. And 
the legalized marriage, unless it coronate the spiritual 
fact, melts, like all temporary error, at the door of the 
tomb. Your offspring, unless they be of and from your 
spirit, and therefore from God, are only physiological 
productions, so far as you are concerned— for they find 
their true parents in other homes in the eternal heavens. 
Thus those who were unmarried in this world, after 
death meet both their true mates and their spirit- 
families. 

I wish to speak a few moments more with reference 
to social life in the Summer-Land. I found, on inquiry, 
that certain kinds of idiots die like blossoms on trees 
that produce no fruit ; children who are hybrids in 
their phrenological organizations — having not even the 
germs of a mind, but only the sanguine propulsions of 
the blood which give them the instinct of the animal, 
causing them to open their mouths to eat, and to drivel 
in sign of a desire for drink ; such are but the vestiges 
of a worn out, miserable, passionate, but legalized 
marriage. 

These useless offspring come from those who are 
permitted to be debauched by the rum-holes, cesspools 



SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 49 

of intemperance on earth, with no law or civil regula- 
tion positively to prevent the evil. Much of this agony 
of child-bearing results in nothing; only so much or- 
ganized clay that must go through the chemical hopper 
again, and be wrought up in the combinations of the 
physical world. Such is the fate of certain kinds of 
idiots who come from passion and intemperance. But 
in the Spirit-Land I have seen hosts and groups of 
beautiful children that were gathered to learn lessona 
from birds, and trees, and rivulets, and flowing streams. 
These happy children were each gathered according to 
a name which represented the group, and over each 
assemblage was appointed an "Apozea." That is just 
what, in a very crude way, we shall endeavor to rep- 
resent in our newly-organized Children's Lyceums. 
If possible, we will have a little of the kingdom of 
heaven on the earth. Let us try in our " Lyceum" to 
make some human progress like that which is rolling 
in beautiful groups beyond the stars. 

In the Spirit- World I noticed a vast congregation 
of persons who were in this world known for their phi- 
lanthropy. Age is not represented in the physical 
aspect of a person in the other life, but wholly by the 
expression of the eye and the temper of the mind. 
" Age/' as we call it, is not seen or known there. 
Those philanthropic persons receive delegates from the 
battle-fields of America. For ages those celestial Sa- 
maritans have gathered the soldiers as they came, in 
large parties at a time, direct from the cannon's mouth 
or the bayonet's point. The new-comers are slowh 
introduced to a new and a different life ; and this is 
done with such gentleness, with such beautiful and 
graceful methods ! 



50 SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

But those of both sexes, who are engaged in these 
philanthropic labors, wear clothing of various appear- 
ance and of wondrous fashions, different from anything 
you would or could imagine. I have never yet seen any 
silken gauze or gossamer fabrics to compare with the 
garments there used. Many wear a peculiar flowing 
dress, which, in a moment, can be either wound about 
the person in graceful folds or taken off. This gar- 
ment, for either man or woman, is appropriate and 
beautiful beyond all imitation. 

And then the feasting which is sometimes visible in 
the Summer-Land, would give you a great joy to be- 
hold. I verily believe that never a man or woman 
would partake of what is called the " Lord's Supper" — 
never partake of the crude elderberry wine and the 
very carefully prepared unleavened bread — if they 
could see the feasting of hundreds of thousands at the 
Lord's Supper spread out "on those islands, and along 
the fringed margins of those beautiful and musical 
rivers! I never before so well knew what was meant 
when your authority and our Brother, the great Spiritual 
Reformer, said, " Consider the lilies of the field, how 
they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin ; and 
yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, 
was not arrayed like one of these." The beautiful 
truth contained in that passage was exemplified to my 
mind in my first vision of the scene of a great feast in 
the Spirit-Land. Verily, no man, or woman, or child, 
in the higher life, careth for the immediate source — 
'that is, they do not give themselves thought and great 
care for the food they receive and enjoy at appropriate 
seasons. What was called " manna" in the Old Testa- 
ment is there a literal manifestation, dropping like snow 






SCENES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 51 

from the bosom of the heavenly realm ; and as it falls 
it covers those beautiful and mossy fibers, and slowly 
becomes like the purest honey distilled from the depths 
of the upper air. The beautiful substances made from 
this manna are in all possible forms and shapes, and 
each form and shape possesses a flavor and an odor of 
its own ; out of the one substance all forms and varie- 
ties of food are made — an art in chemistry which men 
"will discover in this world one of these future golden 
days. For be it remembered that the immense riches 
of an apple are not yet known, much less those of a 
peach or a berry t Mankind are but just learning to 
preserve their fruits and common berries. When we 
get where aerial emanations are granted for food, and 
when we know how to gather and " bottle up" the 
spiritual particles that float in the invisible ether amid 
the heavens, then we shall live the life of the " lilies." 

The Spirit- World is thus brought into our actual 
experience, and the very life of it is seen and realized. 
Many of these visions of things would require most 
delicate descriptions to make them acceptable to the 
common sense of the world. But I tell you that the 
existence of the Summer-Land is not more mysterious 
than the formation and existence of a man's body out 
of the invisible life of his nerves. You may not see the 
philosophy of what I have here uttered, but it is as 
positive a science and is as literally true as that twice 
five make ten. And I fully believe that the existence 
and actualities of the next sphere will become a part 
of science, and that its philosophy will be as plain as 
the existence of such planets as Mars, Jupiter, and 
Saturn. 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 



41 That was not first which is spiritual, but the natural ; afterward the 
spiritual." 

If you will permit a little autobiography, I will 
again refer to my own past. There are persons who, 
I think, know nothing of my personal investigations 
with respect to the existence, circumstances, and scenes, 
of mankind's future life. They have only heard. Those 
who do know, will, I trust, excuse me for speaking to 
those who do not know concerning my personal rela- 
tions to this subject. 

It is known and it can be demonstrated (the wit- 
nesses are nearly all living in this world,; that this 
subject of the future life came upon me years ago. I 
stand before you educated, to some extent, by that 
advent. It has made me acquainted with questions 
which are not common to merchants, and men who 
work, and think, and have their whole being parallel 
with society, and with the laws of ordinary business 
enterprises. The realities and scenes of the future 
came to me more silently and gradually than the flower 
unfolds from its earliest germinal beginnings. There 
was no shock in the advent. I was very much of a 
child in mind and body, and in years also, when the 
Spirit- World was first opened to my vision. So far as 
I myself was conscious, it came without any preparation, 
without any expectation, without any theory whatever, 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 53 

and without any imagination with reference to what 
man's future state was, and would be. And not only 
so, but I was for years shut out from any external 
memory or other acquaintance with the wondrous facts 
that were delighting and intellectually enchanting the 
witnesses who were present when these things were 
delivered at 252 Spring street, New York, in the 
winter and spring of 1847. (See "Introduction to 
Nature's Divine Revelations.") 

Now, if I stood before you as an intellectual specu- 
lator, a theorist — as a person who had pre-determined to 
wrest historical facts, to twist them, to mold them, to 
fashion them by the legerdemain of an anti-conscientious 
intellect, and by the force of imagination shape my facts 
to suit a foregone conclusion — then indeed I should not 
be for one moment worthy your respectful attention. 
Because, in such case, I should be an imaginationist and 
a perjured witness, self-condemned, and I could not 
longer speak ; the words of my native tongue would 
cleave to the roof of my mouth, and I should be inter- 
nally forced to breathe in the midst of self-consterna- 
tions, and I know no power that could extricate me from 
the terrible embarrassment that would overwhelm my 
whole soul. 

But I do not stand before you in any such capacity. 
I am not a theorist ; not an imaginationist ; not a law- 
yer, My position is that of a person, who, without 
forethought or intellectual preparation, became slowly 
acquainted with realities and scenes that were trans- 
mitted, or " impressed," day by day, from a higher 
sphere, until two whole years had transpired ; and 
then, at the end of those two years, by a blessed mental 



54: SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

unfolding, which only the spiritual metaphysicians can 
truly explain to your understanding, the beautiful 
memories which had been thus gradually deposited 
within me came out and stood in the foreground, and 
said, " Remeniberest thou these things?" — instantly 
my external life, with its memories, was blended and 
married sweetly at the altar of the " superior condi 
tion!" So well do I remember it! In the city of 
beautiful Poughkeepsie, vividly, indeed, like a conscious 
flower, pulsated the clear facts of that new birth. And 
I stand before you as one who has continued -these sub- 
lime investigations every forenoon, whenever my physical 
and external conditions were favorable for an entire 
cerebral abstraction — by which the physical world is shut 
out, and the spiritual senses opened — and then pictures 
and scenes of immortal beauty have been painted on the 
spirit's retina, such limpid realities as no pencil can 
possibly imitate on canvas, nor poetry transfer in lan- 
guage, to the mind of man. 

I appear before you, not as testifying in support 
of a theory, but to relate what I have seen as literal 
celestial verities. No theory can long exist which does 
not walk in the track of these indubitable facts. Nor 
can any philosophy long stand unless it comes to you 
just as these celestial facts came to me, in a logical 
sequence, following like flowing water along the un- 
changeable channels of Cause and Effect. Pardoning 
so much self-history, you will, I think, allow me now 
to ask your attention briefly to a philosophical basis for 
what I shall relate. 

In the year 1850 I began a chapter by asking the 
question: "Is human nature immortal ' ?" The same 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 55 

question is before me now. Who is the infidel among 
you '/ Christians ! you who profess to believe so much 
better and finer and truer things than I do, you who pass 
current in the outward world for being " orthodox" in 
your persuasion, I ask you : " Is immortality a part of 
your conviction ?" If it is not, then some other method, 
and some stouter proof, will be necessary to implant it 
in your judgment. But if it is, then I ask you : " Is 
immortality possible except on the supposition that you 
are to continue forever to be yourself?" Is human nature, 
the individuality, to be changed in the twinkling of an 
eye ? Can your personal nature be supernaturally 
changed. and converted into something different ten 
minutes after death, or at the moment of the Resurrec- 
tion ? — can such a metempsychosis take place and you 
still continue to be yourself? What kind of an immor- 
tality is that? For you. James and Mary, to be immor- 
tal, it is immutably necessary that you should continue 
to be James and Mary, and not others. When your 
neighbors, relatives, and intimate acquaintances arrive 
beyond the grave, they must be to you, and to them- 
selves, the continuation of the individual life-chapters 
here commenced to be written, otherwise they are utter 
strangers to each other — in all logical effects they 
would be new persons — and thus the doctrine of im- 
mortality would be nothing, although individuals might 
forever dwell in the higher realms. 

If immortality be a truth, then Christians cannot 
with reason say to me that I am uttering one word con- 
trary to the divine system of the celestial, spiritual, and 
physical universe. If they repudiate immortality, then 
[ am the Christian — that is, the believer. I do not wish 
3* 



56 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

to arrogate the former term ; for, as the so-styled 
Christian world now goes, I do not think the name is 
either much of a compliment or recommendation. The 
doctrine of immortality is in the world's religious faith. 
If it be accepted by the intellect, it must be on the 
principle that mankind continue the life begun in this 
world. How can a man be after death what he was on 
earth, unless he be distinguished by the same structure, 
unless the same general mental conformation continues, 
unless he remains possessed of the same general phy- 
sique, and the same general arrangement of faculties and 
dispositions of temperament, which give him individu- 
ality and a marked personal position with reference to 
others in this world ? 

This reasoning I take as the first layer of basis, 
which may render the idea of immortality somewhat 
philosophical. 

Again I ask you who are openly avowed " Deists" — 
I mean those Unitarian Christians who believe in God — ■ 
whether, if there be a God, who, as they say, is " with- 
out variableness or shadow of turning" — is He to be, 
or appear to be, an entirely different Person or Power 
in another state of being ? Can an omnipotent, un- 
changeable, deathless Deity, be something entirely dif- 
ferent when mankind ascend beyond the present, 
" nearer to God " ? You know that Deity, in the 
world's theologic conception, is a perfect, single man- 
large, vast, beyond all measurement, yet a man ! and 
that the emanation from his holy spirit goes out to fill, 
and thrill, and vivify the illimitable spaces of the 
universe. This last diffusion of the holy spirit is what 
some Christians call " th.j Divine proceeding," the orn- 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 57 

nipresence of the spirit of God, taking the name of the 
" Holy Ghost." 

Now I ask you whether, in your honest opinion, it 
be possible for an unchangeable God to change his na- 
ture and his balance? If he does not, it being intrin- 
sically impossible, then would it not be natural and 
reasonable to suppose that another existence adapted to 
mankind would be simply another section, or a higher 
degree, of the existence begun here ? Is it not logical 
to believe that what is primary here would correspond 
to something primary there — that what is here meant 
by "justice," and "truth," and "liberty," would there 
be represented by something exactly the same, perfectly 
identical ? If things begin here with roots and grow 
to summits, then, God not changing, and the vegetative 
laws and systems being the same, would you not sup- 
pose that all future growths occur in harmony with the 
inspiring principle? Otherwise, with a different philo- 
sophy, you are all afloat! You can have no common 
sense in matters of religion, unless you take the basis 
which is here given: it gives solid, fertile soil, and 
strong, firm roots, to all your ultimate reasonings and 
contemplations. 

You send your children to the primary schools. 
What for ? So that when they are old enough to take 
a higher position in the scale of learning they may be 
prepared to take all their rudiments of thought up into 
a more practical mental development. For this end 
the primary schools are established, and that is why 
you consent to send your children to them. Now, what 
is this earth ? It is a primary school. It is primary 
in the physical as in the spiritual ; just as much in the 



58 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

social as in the intellectual. The universe changes not, 
because God is unchangeable; therefore what you begin 
to Learn here in the rudiment, you will be certain to 
ascertain there in the ultimate Life ; what is germ here 
is FLOWER there ; ami so you can trace upward all the 
consecutive ami unbroken links by which germs reach 
onward to fruition, and thus bloom out naturally on 
the summits of the great trees of Truth. Otherwise — 
thai is, with a different notion — you have no philosophy 
and no science in your religion — only a dumb, shallow, 
idiotic heathenism, blundering and stumbling- headfore- 
most into the absurdities of Supernaturalisin. Mystery 
and tear are what the olden ministers consider the best 
stock-material in their stupendous trade. The high 
calling of every Reformer is to make Truth a simple 
Unity and a sublime Reality ! We have science and 
philosophy beneath our feet, truth in our principles, and 
reason in our propositions; and nothing is true to our 
minds because any particular individual has "said it" 
— no authority to us in a "thus saith the Lord." 

I appear before you to testify to celestial facts that 
came to me without a theory or a philosophy, without 
foregone conclusions, without any logical points to 
make out, or any favorite positions to affirm and main- 
tain. If you can demonstrate my personal history in 
these particulars not to be real, publish it in your 
papers, and I will agree to pay you one hundred dol- 
lars for every line o\^ such demonstration. The wit- 
nesses can nearly all be reached, and probably with the 
expense of from two to live dollars. These external 
remarks are for the lawyer and for the man who can't 
believe except he steps on solid ground. Therefore I 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 59 

say to such minds, try, and see for yourselves whether 
these things be not as I have told you from the first. 
Prove these declarations to be utterly unfounded, and 
you shall be forever thanked by the sectarians of 
Christendom. 

After ten years' acquaintance with the Summer- 
Land, I made the inquiry, on one occasion, why it was 
that so many names of places there had Latin roots and 
Greek terminations. I had learned, on frequent inte- 
rior occasions, to know what a Latin or Greek word 
meant, and how it was originated by scholars. By 
writing from the interior, I found that there is a kind 
of immortality in the Greek and Latin Languages — 
more than there is in the Hebrew, the Arabic, and some 
other tongues more oriental and ancient. There is a 
great root- vitality in some of what are called the "dead 
languages/' It seemed very curious to' me that the 
Asiatic and Chaldaic languages were most represented 
in some of the spiritual brotherhoods ; also the lan- 
guage spoken first on the American continent by the 
earliest inhabitants, by the Aborigines, and those more 
singular people who preceded them — that there are 
communities in the Summer-Land which really do con- 
tinue to hold the words and memories of that language 
as precious. And hence it may be remarked that the 
Shakers, when under their peculiar inspirations — the 
celestial afflatus which pervades a congregation of wor- 
shiping Shakers — speak fluently in what are called " un- 
known tongues." (Of course on this point I need not 
stop to argue with and persuade Christians, because 
they have all read Paul, and know from such authority 
that such singular things used to be done — that all 



60 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

kinds of persons, in Pentecostal times, were uplifted 
and made to speak in u unknown tongues.") And it 
seems that the spiritual language of the Shakers is cha- 
racteristic of the speeck of certain brotherhoods in the 
Summer-Land, composed of minds who yet retain their 
" first love" for the words which characterized their 
nationality — in which all Jheir national history and re- 
ligious developments were written. They affectionately 
linger in it, and dwell in it, as bees in hives by the 
roadside. Why ? Because human nature is human 
still: death not radically changing either the heart or 
head. 

There is, as I have before said, a beautiful mount 
called " Starnos." A brotherhood of affiliated souls is 
seen upon the west of it, situated near a celestial pa- 
vilion called by the beautiful word, " Connilium." 
This wondrously beautiful pavilion is not to shelter 
persons from the tempests and storms, as we design and 
use buildings on earth. 

There is there no occasion to prepare for winter 
nor for great heat of summer. Different portions of 
the Summer-Land have different temperatures, but no 
such climate as we have in any part of the earth, be- 
cause that Land is made by the fine material contribu- 
tions and gravitation of atoms of all planets in the solar 
system. Hence it is the product of many, and not of 
one * the earth being but one atomic contributor to the 
material formation of that existence. Only portions of 
that Land, therefore, can retain the peculiarities of the 
earth, of which such portions are naturally more perfect 
representatives. 

This Connilium is a structure of exceeding beauty. 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 61 

It seems, to look at it, like a. building made of trees, 
flowering shrubs, and countless vines. To the clair- 
voyant eye it is full of undescribable, beautiful colors. 
It seems to be composed of- flowers that cast rays oi 
lights and shadows like precious stones. And I won- 
der not that John, when standing on the Isle of Patmos 
and gazing into the upper sphere, seeing this marvelous 
Pavilion, called it " the New Jerusalem." Such gorge- 
ous beauty, resplendent with wh&x seems to be precious 
stones, is not often painted upon Jif upturned eyes of 
the clairvoyant. 

Flowing along this side of that b.^uviful Pavilion is 
a river (I obtained the pronunciation of tLis 1 word with 
great care) called " Apotravella." Tiie/ sing to itr 
tides. There is in that Brotherhood a p.'eoe of music 
written to the life of the Apotravella. And 'here are 
times when the vast multi-arched Connilium throbs like 
a harp, responsive to the historical musical revelatioi 
of that beautiful celestial stream. 

" Ali-Nineka" is the name of the Turk who is chief 
in that temple — still a follower and a believer in Ma- 
homet. One would suppose that by this time he had 
outgrown his creed, but he has not. He often sees and 
adores the gifted man who represented Mecca. The 
dwellers in this temple still believe that the populations 
of other portions of the Summer-Land will yet take 
great interest in Mahomet, the prophet of God. 

Thus, heathenism, (as men call it,) continues after 
death, and missionary workers, and even Spiritualistic 
meetings, will be necessary in the Upper-Land ; because 
human nature is not supernatural, but continues to be 
human — outgrowing its errors either slowly or rapidly, 



62 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

in keeping with motives and temperaments. Some im- 
mediately improving and progressing in free truth; 
others remaining unimpressible and conservative for 
very long ages. 

" Martillos" is the young, bright wife of Ali-Nineka. 
Martillos, who has lived centuries in that world, ia 
"Morning Devotion," which is the significance of her 
name. She is filled with the spirit of the master-mind 
from whom they get their musical education. The doc- 
trine of polygamy, which was so popular in Turkey and 
throughout all Mahommedan countries, is not practiced 
in this Brotherhood. This beautiful girl seems to have 
been the savior of Ali-Nineka. They constitute the 
central objects of talent and beauty, and are the host 
and hostess of that vast pavilion. 

In 1855, when I was writing something concerning 
that Christian sect which flourished in the second cen- 
tury, called the "Gnostics," I realized a warmth and 
observed a little purple ray that was spread and trem- 
bling over the paper on which I was writing. It sig- 
nified that there was some person present in spirit who 
would testify ; and so, casting down my pen and yielding 
to that invitation, I received testimony from a man who 
called himself "Ephelitus." He said that he was a 
scholar and a propagandist in that early sect. He 
remarked that the race of Gnostics is almost extinct, 
but that there are a few of them remaining, who still 
believe that they had " the truth/' and they accordingly 
continue to advocate it. Ephelitus himself lived in a 
very different section of the Summer-Land. " Ori," he 
said, gives the sound of a word which signifies the 
name of his lovely valley — the Ephelitus region— where 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 63 

still a few Gnostics, like the Quakers of earth, meet to 
exchange civilities and to hold social conferences or 
religious conversations. 

Is it strange that persons who go across the ocean 
into Europe should meet and talk over American affairs ? 
Is it strange that when the old man walks down 
into the twilight of his personal history, he loves to sit 
and tell over to younger persons what happened to him 
three-score years before? Always keep in remembrance 
that human nature is human, both in this world and in 
the Summer-Land. 

In the valley of Ori, the oldest Gnostic, Ephelitus, 
holds his levees, and gathers about him those who wish 
to hear him tell of scenes and toils in Rome seventeen 
centuries ago. They listen to the "tales of a grand- 
father," and learn of the eventful century when Gnosti- 
cism first gathered its followers, when it grew, and 
became, for the time, a religious and local power. 

"Zellabingen" is a vast German Association, which 
was also seen in August, 1855. This Association in the 
Summer-Land was located, when I first observed the 
assemblage, parallel with the rings of Saturn with 
reference to the path of the sun. That is, if you were 
at that moment a member of the Zellabingen Associa- 
tion, and stood in its location, pointing northward at 
the time I mention, this way from the Summer-Land, 
you would have indicated a point in space directly 
parallel to the situation and plane of the rings of the 
planet Saturn. To have pointed earthward would have 
nearly reversed the direction of your vision. 

This vast Association is musical throughout. It is 
composed wholly of persons who had not, before death, 



64: SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

acquired the power of song, but who yet possessed en- 
thusiastic and ardent love for musie — souls whose desires 
for song had not been gratified in the earth. The Zel- 
labingen Association is to them the glorious actualiza- 
tion of what here was ideal and perpetual disappoint- 
ment. They each one said, " I have now no voice for 
song, but I will yet sing ; it is in me ; I can silently 
sing ; my spirit sings ; and time will bring me song." 
How many German maidens, and how many German 
young men, have become members of the Zellabingen 
Society! There they are, in the Upper- World, some 
of them centuries old, as our almanac would make it, 
yet younger than any grown person on earth. To them 
every morning is the beginning of a new day. By 
which I mean that every change in the cycle of their 
lives is to them the beginning of a new age through 
which they have never passed. They are fresh and 
new, spontaneous and beautiful. 

It was this Zellabingen Society that first adopted 
the beautiful movement called " The Children's Pro- 
gressive Lyceum." They began, as we. have, by the 
distribution of twelve Groups. The Groups were de- 
signated and regulated according to the ages of their 
members ; that is to say, according to the ages of those 
who love music and song, and not according to ages 
kept by the almanac. For if you were measured and 
classified according to your spiritual age, you would, 
perhaps, be not more than two or three months in some 
things ; others among you, though past life's meridian, 
are just born to a sight of spiritual things ; and some 
of you, although voters on election days, are not yet 
born in wisdom and true faith ; while others, years old 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 65 

m spiritual faith, are not a month old in matters per- 
taining to true knowledge. No — the soul is not to be 
measured by the almanac, but by its development from 
a state of darkness to a state^ of knowledge. In + he 
Summer-Land there is no other account of time. A 
young man may, perhaps, know nothing of chemistry, 
but the same mind may be more than a century old in 
music. Youth is so perfect a principle in spirit that 
decay cannot come upon it. Every spirit, in the Upper 
life, becomes a spontaneous spring of ever-recurring 
youthfulness. 

The Zellabingen Society, I again observe, origin- 
ally adopted the Children's Lyceum Groups in the 
Summer-Land. The Groups first represented notes of 
music. Then each Group was an octave. At length 
the Groups multiplied and numbered up higher and 
higher, until they constituted an orchestra with a thou- 
sand octaves ! The master-spirits, standing among the 
musical Groups, so that every one could be reached, 
evoked such magnetic inspiration, that when a splendid 
piece of historical music rolled out from those accord- 
ant voices, the heavens seemed for the moment to be 
only music ! It seemed to me, when I first heard this 
celestial concert, that the people of Brooklyn, where I 
then resided, could not shut their ears against it. At 
the time I was in ckirvoyance on the corner of Fulton 
and Franklin Avenues, in a room on the third floor, 
and it seemed that the busy inhabitants of New York, 
and all the cities round about, did certainly hear every 
note that was sounded. The lowest, the highest, and 
grandest notes were heard, and then the deep, deep bass, 
which seemed to come up from the profoundest starry 



66 SOCIETY IN TTFE SUMMER-LAND. 

depths ; so that it seemed as though the harp of old 
ocean was attuned to perform a part of the melody. It 
seemed as though, had I had paper and pencil by me at 
the moment, 1 might liave traced many parts of this 
wonderful historical music of the Zellabingen Society. 

But let us now speak of others. Lindenstein and 
Moraneski are Russian and Austrian Associations. The 
Lindenstein Association is more remote from the Zella- 
bingen Brotherhood than is England from America. It 
is situated very far away to the right. The Russian 
Association seemed to be immersed almost wholly in 
matters of history with reference to races of planets, 
no matter whether of this earth or others in space. 
They have lost a great deal of their attachment to their 
native globe. They are peculiarly truthful, unselfish, 
and disinterested. -They are almost Teutonic in their 
studious methods. They often associate themselves in 
large assemblies. And when I first saw them, on a 
particular occasion, it seemed to be their time of meet- 
ing. They were interested in, and debating upon, 
historical questions. The uses and lessons of such 
celestial conventions and deliberations will be seen at 
some future time. 

"Moraneski/' the Austrian Assembly, or Society, 
is a very different Brotherhood. They were, at that 
time, concerning themselves almost entirely with the 
formation of the best governments for the different 
tribes and peoples of the earth. They are politicians 
in their methods, but do not seek to exert political 
influence over kings and emperors. 

Monazolappa is the only exclusively African realm 
that I have ever seen in the Spirit- World. And here, 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 67 

for the first time, I saw that progeny of parents, of 
whatever race, not born perfectly organized in the 
formation of the inner brain, do not obtain an indi- 
vidualized representation after death. It seems that 
there was a very large percentage of the progeny of 
the early inhabitants who never attained to immortality. 
According to the testimony of the Monazolappa Asso- 
ciation, myriads of the progeny of the semi-humans, who 
prevailed in the early ages of the globe, went down out 
of sight into the vortices and laboratories of matter. 
There was there no voice of lamentation. They said 
that their true children were not lost ; for every human 
child naturally born is there; only those, who, taking 
on the shape of man, but not yet internally organ- 
ized up to the human, were excluded from the upper 
spheres. 

Two years previous, in 1853, I was led (by a very 
beautiful incident which I may not now relate,) to see for 
the first time a Brotherhood on the north of what I 
first called Mount Starnos — a beautiful Spanish Asso- 
ciation, more numerous than the population of America, 
called " Acadelaco," or " Eco del Eco" — the name as 
near as I can remember to pronounce. And there was 
round about- that beautiful Starnos a lake that seemed 
to be of pure limpid amber ! It was flowing, yet not 
heavily liquid as is our earthly water. It seemed to be 
more like flowing liquid atmosphere than like water, 
and it had the peculiar property of giving off a refresh- 
ing fragrance instead of a suffocating fog. And once, 
soon after this vision, in crossing the East River to 
New York on the Brooklyn ferry-boat, I saw a painful 
contrast; for there we wandered, and floated, and 



68 SOCIETX IN THE SUMMER*] IND, 

steamed about for three-quarters of an hour, in a, 

had .1 remarkably bad smoll. Ami 1 had just 

arisen from the studio in which that entire spiritual 

truth had been developed, with the recollection of the 

emanations Iroro the amber-like river to the north of 

Starnos! What 6 contrast between the two worlds 1 

Hovering over the bosom o( the heavenly river was a 

>m countless flowers* 

\ gentleman who is an expert in science says that 

ite that the aphic instrument 

ran raph invisible substances. Dhus mankind 

olish the 

aumts. Art has 

►aoh to painting- unsubstantial 

. so that the human eye can, with admiring 

m them, Pe - manner, 

s, Art w agrance o a 

o or to 

say, " Is it possible . 
I centuries immemorial we have I 
aing, while now vre can 
; 
. I w ill . 

er-river w > 

thej Pouriei . 

■ 
west V 

I hit- 
Society < 



SOCIETY IN TIIE SUMMER-LAND. 69 

upon that scene and not worship the Infinite Mind ? 
Every human mind would in one moment be moved to 
feelings of purest devotion and highest adoration. Our 
rainbow here is a philosophical fact, unless the system 
of Nature be a fraud; and the spiritual counterpart is a 
continuation of this on a grander principle. The fact 
exists in science, and you cannot dodge the conclusion, 
that, in other spheres, similar phenomena may occur. 

" Miantovesta" is an Italian Brotherhood, in a very 
different section of the Summer-Land. This Brother- 
hood is distinguished by some of the most beautiful 
women that ever lived on the face of the earth. It is 
one of the most celestial and attractive. And behold 
what hospitalities the Miantovestaians receive when 
they visit the Zellabingens! They journey to the latter 
Brotherhood from time to time; and there the sweet 
singers of the Miantovesta join the anthems of the 
Groups, and their voices rise up and blend like drops 
of dew in the air. 

I wonder not — having heard the music of this great 
Association — that many Christians conceive the king- 
dom of heaven to be a perpetual singing-school — a pro- 
tracted Methodist meeting — continuing years and centu- 
ries, while they adore God, with hymns of praise, grati- 
tude, and thanksgiving, in this manner occupying their 
time throughout the infinite periods! And this is the 
orthodox Christian's conception of heaven! Human 
nature must be entirely changed at death to make it 
possible to realize such a conception. Nay, nay. It is 
a philosophic, scientific, phrenological, affection al, logi- 
cal, spiritual, religious absurdity. Yet, remembering 
the effect produced when the Zellabingen Society joins 



70 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

its wondrous, magnificent melody with the Mianto- 
vesta — then I sometimes think that, from this celestial 
fact, the early Christians may have obtained their con- 
ception that the eternity in the kingdom of heaven is 
devoted to the cheerful works of music and praying. 

" Pialoleski" is another Russian Association. It is 
peculiar, and distinguished for its musical properties. 
Having heard the songs of these musical gatherings, I 
feel the impulse to urge our Brothers and Sisters to 
open their mouths and bring forth the joyful hymns of 
progress and praise. No wonder that I would have 
song poured from everybody's mouth ! It has almost 
lifted me up to the thought of having nothing cultivated 
in this world save music. When I first heard the Anvil 
Chorus, it seemed after all as though the multifarious 
sounds of noisy cities would one of these days be " set 
to music." I had no appreciation of such a combina- 
tion of sounds and parts as constituted an "opera" 
until these celestial sounds came through the clairaudi- 
ence of my own spirit, thus educating the *nind to 
breathe in the significance of music, as well as to com- 
prehend somewhat of its physical vesture. 

Senelocius and Helvetius are celebrated even in the 
Summer-Land for their logical peculiarities and intel- 
lectual endowments. Baron D'Holbach, too, and those 
who believe in his doctrines, seem to think the time will 
come when men's minds will wholly outgrow any idea 
f G d — that there is no necessity and no philosophy 
for such an impossible Being. They believe and teach 
many about them that God is a supernatural absurdity; 
that there is no super naturalism. They sometimes think 
the absurdity itself is absurd, and they advocate among 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 71 

themselves, and fearlessly in the presence of those about 
them, the same fundamental thoughts that ruled the 
affections of the earthly society which they formed 
before they left the earth. 

Professor Webster, of the Dr. Parkman history, 
went among such minds, not by invitation, but in asso- 
ciation with others who were going to see and to listen. 
And when he first appeared to a circle in Springfield, 
Mass., he there reported a peculiar doctrine which the 
medium was afraid to write or have reported. It was 
really the doctrine of the Helvetian School, much modi- 
fied, but essentially the same. 

Swedenborg truly says that, in the Spirit- World, 
the different associations, nationalities, tribes, and reli- 
gious sects continue. The philosophers of the Atheistic- 
al school — especially Senelocius — make these notions 
a matter of society, so that the children of parents who 
think as they do, and the wives of those men who so 
think, and persons in other Brotherhoods, have large 
sentimental gatherings, where they enjoy festivities and 
conversation. Human nature here is human nature 
there. We have here a New England Society, the 
Western Association, or the Knickerbocker Associa- 
tion, &c, and the different Clubs. It is the same thing 
there, only on a grander and more harmonious scale. 

" Archilarium" is the name of an open pavilion 
where these teachers gather the multitudes who want 
to listen. When this assemblage was witnessed by me 
in 1858, it seemed like avast convention : not, however, 
characterized by the turbulency of earthly gatherings. 
They all seemed to take a great deal of interest in 
everything said and done. It was a celestial Conven- 
4 



72 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

tion held out in the open fields of heaven — beautiful, 
fair, mossy, and bedecked with every variety of flower- 
ing plants. 

" Vivodario" is the name of that Oratorio — of that 
beautiful section of river — to which I referred in the 
early part of this discourse. And the beautiful Octo- 
lonia is the angel-writer and poetess — a gifted lady in 
the Summer-Land — who developed and arranged the 
sublimest piece of music in the whole Brotherhood of 
Zellabingen. It was written long after death by this 
beautiful German lady-spirit. Octolonia is the name 
given to her in consequence of her great attainments 
and accomplishments. Her name is her coronation ; it 
shines from her brow ; it sparkles and shimmers through 
her beautiful locks. She seems to be radiant with the 
music of which she was the authoress. 

" Ulcemira" is the name of a traveler who had ar- 
rived just at the time when this clairvoyant observation 
was made. Ulcemira, too, is a most beautiful woman, 
who, in this world, had desires for journeying which 
had never had any gratification. But when she felt her 
feet free upon the green fields of Paradise, she openly 
declared and made an oath that " she would have her 
soul gratified with excursions." And verily, this beau- 
tiful woman, Ulcemira, has traveled twenty times 
farther than from here to the sun. She had just arrived 
from one excursion, and, with the poetess, stood where 
the music was just about beginning : and that was the 
glorious scene, and the time, when I heard the grandest 
music possible to imagine. 

The social scenes in the Summer-Land, which I waa 
enabled to see two, days after what is above mentioned 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 73 

and which included the enchanting festivities, were be- 
yond all verbal description. I will not detain you by a 
single word upon them ; they may come up, perhaps, in 
a future reference. 

"La Samosata" is the name of a Convent, or what 
would here be called a Monastery. There are persons 
who still verily believe that the Roman Catholic faith 
is God's exclusive religion. Such spirits hover over 
their congenial earthly congregations. Therefore the 
Roman Catholics do experience real inspirations — not 
revelations, remember, because revelations open and en- 
lighten the judgment, whilst inspirations excite, vivify, 
and warm our spirits to action. Many persons are 
truly inspired who have not common sense. In fact, 
they may be very highly inspired, and still be very un- 
wise in their externals. On the other hand, when a man 
has a real revelation — which gently expands and opens 
the faculties of thought, and which also brings propor- 
tion, and depth, and solidity — then inspiration becomes 
to that man's faculties what sun-heat is to the flowers, 
and grains, and grasses. It is a cause of growth and 
of steady fertilization. 

Now these Catholics of our earth really feel the 
hovering indorsement and benedictions of the La Samo- 
sata — the tenants of a vast Convent. It is a place shut 
in by mountains that fill the distance away off, like 
Alps upon Alps (only not with those abrupt and pointed 
summits,) but like innumerable oceans they seem to roll 
down to the garden of the Convent. 

If the earthly astronomer could but gaze upon this 
scene with his telescope, it would seem to him as though 
he was contemplating new star-fields in the heavens, in 
4 



74 SOCIETY IN TTIE SUMMER-LAND. 

beauty and magnitude far beyond his ability to transmit 
in language, or to map down for the longing eyes of his 
waiting fellow-men. The La Samosata, instead of being 
o place where a i'cw thousand can gather, may con- 
tain all the Roman Catholics who have gone into 
the Spirit- World lor many past centuries, and hence it 
is vastly larger than the States of both Illinois and 
Wisconsin. You ask, " Do they all live there V I 
answer by asking, "Do you suppose that there is coer- 
cion ? Is the internal government of the Spirit-Land 
more arbitrary, more despotic than this? Will you not 
there be more, instead of less, generous and kind to all 
forms of faith ? Will the good Father and Mother 
send policemen or missionaries armed with rods and 
whips to drive men who do not believe the exact let- 
ter V No, no. Human nature continues the same. 
Therefore Roman Catholic Associations in the next 
sphere are just as inevitable and natural as anywhere 
on the face of the earth. 

I will speak of other things. A great white flower 
was seen in the same month. It is called the " Archi- 
bulunr"— a beautiful word, meaning the white temple of 
the children. And there, near the garden containing 
these flowers, are persons we read of in the Bible. 
There 1 observed those who would not be comforted — 
Rachel, and also very many beautiful Jewesses, and the 
Israelitish women who were called heroines in the old 
Hebrew Scriptures. The Archibulum is a vast white 
flower, so constituted as to represent the image of beau- 
tiful children grouped directly at its center. It seems to 
grow full one hundred feet from the earth. Many admir- 
ing spirits seem to think they see in the flower's center a 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 75 

beautiful representation of the son of Mary and Joseph, 
when he said, " Suffer little children to come unto me." 
It is the divinest flower of all that section of the Sum- 
mer-Land. And the early Hebrew women look with 
great delight upon the Archibulum, with the picture 
of an assembly of children at its center — one of the 
most marvelous floral developments in the garden of 
God. 

Do not forget, friends, that I am speaking to you of 
scenes in the Summer-Land — the next-door neighbor to 
all this circle of planets, of which the earth is a member. 
What would you say if you should hear somewhat con- 
cerning the third Sphere, of the one beyond that, or of 
another and still higher ? I have seen mediums who 
think they receive communications from the innumera- 
ble upper places ! No. Many of them have not heard 
from the gifted in these Brotherhoods. Now and then 
some one of them says, " Oh, that is nothing, the next 
spirit-world is nothing ! I get communications from 
the seventh heaven — away up out of sight I" That is 
all ecstatic inspiration, without any analyzing judg- 
ment — no revelation to balance the mind in truth. Men 
and women get more humility when they get more wis- 
dom. Pomposity of intellect is the best proof of its 
shallowness. When a truly sublime idea comes to you, 
then, " expressive silence" is alone natural and worthy. 
Words are an impertinence. 

" Aurealia" is the general name for a class of pulsat- 
ing lilies. These golden and graceful plants grow by the 
peaceful homes of those pure souls who wish them. Au- 
realia represents " new hopes," or freshened hopes. It 
grows by the heavenly homes of many good, hign-bori 



76 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

souls, in the spirit-world. Some persons who have lived 
in New York, and some who have departed from among 
our households, have been seen where these beautiful 
pulsating indications of "freshened hopes" vibrate in 
the soft, beautiful zephyrs of the immortal sphere. 

" Oahulah" is the name of a brotherhood of Sand- 
wich Islanders, which I saw almost by an accident, 
when I was looking for something very different. The 
circumstance may interest you. I took up a newspaper 
and saw the name of Aaron Burr. I had never read 
anything concerning him. I had heard that he was a 
peculiar man, a politician, &c. I had also heard some 
conversation about him. I said, " I wonder if I cannot 
get some information with reference to him." This was 
early in the first year of the Herald of Progress^ — 
about three years ago. The question occupied my 
thoughts for three different mornings, and, on the third 
session, clairvoyance was complete, and the vision 
opened, but I did not see Aaron Burr as I expected to, 
but I saw a much smaller man, with a brow that was 
not yet clear of a singular shadow, which immediately 
drew my attention, and I said, " I wish I could know 
what it is that so shades that man's brow." I saw nothing 
above him that could cast a shadow, nor had he any- 
thing upon his head. He was surrounded and conversing 
with a great many others. They were seemingly inter- 
ested in something pertaining to the war then approach- 
ing on earth, and with reference to some persons who 
were their earthly relatives, whom they knew would 
soon be among them from the battle-fields. But above 
all, this man's shaded brow drew my clairvoyant atten- 
tion. I wished to know who he was, and to learn what 



SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 77 

the shadow meant. At length I saw that he was Alex- 
ander Hamilton. In his company I saw none of the early 
American statesmen ; but there were many, intelligent 
persons with him, and of different races. Soon Mr. 
Hamilton unvailed his memory and began to think, 
and I could see the thoughts roll out at the front part 
of his mind, and each was as clear to my inward vision 
as is any object to the physical eye. 

I saw in his memory a place that I had seen on 
earth. At first I could not recognize it sufficiently to 
locate it. But presently it grew more familiar. I had 
seen the trees, and the walks, and the grass, and the 
mountain, and the Hudson River! I looked again, and 
thought for a while, and then I remembered that it was 
Hoboken ! In a few minutes some eight men appeared, 
and he among the rest. And now I saw in his thought 
a regret that he had been weak enough, low enough in 
the moral scale, so actuated by pride and a false code 
of honor, as ever to have permitted Aaron Burr to send 
him, " before his time," into the Summer-Land. And 
I could see distinctly the figures 1804 — the year in 
which Burr shot him : twenty-four hours afterward he 
passed, a duelist, to the After-Life. For days he was 
in a deep, dreamy slumber. When he awoke, he found 
upon his brow this shadow ! The cause of his regret 
dates back half a century ; still there is a shadow just 
over his brow and upon his head. 

The lesson is impressive and easily learned. It is best 
for all to be right and to do right. No man or woman 
is wholly innocent ; no one perfect. If you are not 
good and strong enough to save and prevent another 
from doing you a wrong, the weakness goes with you, 



78 SOCIETY IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

and its effects will shade you somewhere, either in person 
or in spirit, and you cannot conceal a weakness so per- 
fectly as you can in this world. 

The Oahulah is the association of Sandwich Island- 
ers where Alexander Hamilton was temporarily 
sojourning, which I saw by an accident, so to say, when 
trying to find Aaron Burr. Oahulah was constituted 
of persons who had passed on from those earth-islands 
into the spirit-world. 

" Wallavesta" and " Passaeta" both are realms of 
various peaceful and affiliated tribes of Indians. The 
hatchet is really buried, and the pipe of peace is 
smoked. At last the red man has found his hunting- 
grounds. The sachems and the wigwams, the great 
forests and the regions of beauty to traverse, and the 
shining lakes for bathing and fishing — these ideal dreams 
of the old Indians are more than actualized in the 
Summer-Land. The immortal Indian, 

" whose untutored mind 
Sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind," 

is just as good a Christian as they who sat at the feet 
of Jesus, because the Eternal breathed infallible in- 
stinctive truths into his unfettered mind. In the depths 
of intuition he obtained foreglimpses of the beautiful 
immortal realm, not like these barren wastes and rude 
territories granted by government, but a land given by 
the Great Spirit to the "red man," who is as much a 
child of God as is any member of the Zellabingen, as 
much as the highest archangel who dwells in yet higher 
spheres in the spiritual universe. 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND 



"If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye 
believe if I tell you of heavenly things V 

It appears to me that . the foregoing words are 
peculiarly applicable to the subject-matter of this dis- 
course. 

The third chapter of John opens one of the richest 
mines of Platonic Philosophy. You remember that the 
doctrine of the " new birth," or what is theologically 
called " regeneration," is there introduced in behalf of 
persons who were imperfectly generated and badly 
born to start with — minds only half or two-thirds made 
up, " sent into this breathing world" full of physiologic- 
al mistakes and psychological errors ; which must be 
either voluntarily outgrown, or else involuntarily ago- 
nized through to a successful issue — "regeneration" 
being theologically prescribed as the true medicine, the 
only Divine plan, projecting over immense sins, short- 
ening the road to Abraham's bosom, economizing or 
transcending the methods of justice, and saving the sin- 
ner from the pit of eternal and well-merited punish- 
ments. But I believe that all who voluntarily leave the 
world, the flesh, alcohol, tobacco, and the other devils, 
practically set their spirits and their bodies sailing 
toward the immortal Future. Such pay the genuine 
4* 



80 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

coin at the ticket-office of repentance ; they comply with 
the conditions, and are guaranteed a safe and happy 
voyage to the heavenly kingdom. 

But look at the Church plan. From the many pro- 
bations that are granted and accepted, and judging 
from the many false steps and moral mistakes made bv 
the converts, it is probable that multitudes run off the 
track. Notwithstanding the fact that they voluntarily 
enlisted in the spiritual army, purchased tickets in the 
pew-department, and started with all the best sympa- 
thies of the brothers and sisters in Jesus, with the com- 
bined prayers of a mighty congregation to keep their 
souls steady toward the goal ; still great numbers 
switch off and run for years in the world's popular 
tracks. 

Nicodemus could not properly understand the mys- 
terious simplicity of a spiritual birth. I never saw a 
Nicodemus that could. A materialist, a man who 
believes only in the obvious, in weights and measures, 
who acquires his knowledge through the external, is a 
man whose thoughts extend only to the question which 
was put by Nicodemus. One of the most beautiful Sons 
of the Infinite Father replied to him in astonishment : 
" Art thou a master in Israel" — that is, art thou a 
learned lawyer, a doctor of divinity, a responsible pub- 
lic man, a governor over many people — " and knowest 
not these things ?" Think of a leader of the people, 
standing up in authority before multitudes, influencing 
their feelings and conduct, and yet knowing not that 
4< that which is flesh, is flesh, and that which is spirit, is 
spirit." 

To be born of " water" as well as of " the spirit," is 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 81 

too much like the hydropathic system of cure to be con- 
genial to most persons. It is supposed to be more 
pleasant and less laborious to be " born of the spirit" — 
of sentiment, of good endeavor, and of the conscious 
possession of high motives. But it is quite too practi- 
cal to be also born of a clean body, which means 
" water." I am rejoiced and grateful that some such 
man as John the Baptist — the " forerunner" — perceived 
the beautiful emblematic induction, and made the 
demonstration that the physical temple is the basis on 
which the intellectual and spiritual superstructure must 
be erected — that a true " new birth" begins in the body 
department. 

" If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe 
not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly 
things ?" That is to say, if a person, when testifying 
of common earthly things, is known to be as truthful 
and unimpeachable as others who believe a very differ- 
ent creed — known to be as reliable in his speech and in 
character as his orthodox neighbors — why can you not 
as readily believe the same person when he soberly 
speaks of elevated things, which exist out of and beyond 
the sensuous sphere ? The question is very simple. 
Nicodemus, not being acquainted with the science of 
electricity and meteorology, could not understand what 
caused the wind to rush from one place and blow into 
another. Inasmuch as he could not comprehend the 
law of the blowing tempests, nor the wafting of the 
gentle evening zephyrs, how could he understand the 
wimple mystery of the " birth of the spirit" ? The pro- 
gressive growth of the spirit in truth and right is more 
mysterious than the coming and going of terrestrial 



82 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

winds. Inasmuch, therefore, as most men are yet igno- 
rant of the common phenomena of the physical world, 
is it not presumptuous in them to stand up in the midst 
of this temple of God and proclaim their superficial 
skepticisms concerning profounder, deeper, vaster 
more elevated things ? Hundreds pompously denounce 
spiritual things while they know little or nothing of the 
underlying laws and refined conditions by which these 
marvelous visions and rich experiences are obtained. 
Such minds arrogantly presume to sit in final judgment 
upon the spiritual experience of others. The Naza- 
rene when answering Nicodemus, was compelled to raise 
the question of personal veracity. " If," he said sub- 
stantially, " I am worthy of being believed when telling 
you of ordinary things — if I am entitled to be trusted 
in earthly things — why should not my testimony be 
accepted when I speak of things elevated, supersensu- 
ous, celestial, and heavenly V 

Every mind intuitively recognizes the eternal value 
of pure purposes. The converse of the proposition is as 
self-evident — i. e., the eternal disadvantage of immoral 
purposes, nesting and breeding in the centers of indi- 
vidual life. We should urge this statement of the 
question, were it not true that the divine constitution 
of the material and spiritual universe so works, that out 
of darkness light is born — out of evil, good — out of 
lowest imperfections the flowers of purity bloom on the 
high summits of all things, principalities, and princi- 
ples. Were this progressive redemptiveness not true, 
it would then be true to say — as do the orthodox, who 
see only absolute and irreconcilable opposites in the 
structure and method of the Divine government— that, 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 83 

inasmuch as eternal value is stamped upon the soul with 
pure motives, so is there " eternal condemnation" writ- 
ten upon the soul that is moved with immoral motives. 
In all statements, you perceive, there are some items of 
truth. 

The material point of the present discourse is now 
reached — viz., the influence which immoral motives and 
impure purposes exert upon man's interior — upon the 
centers of his life, character, endowments, and faculties 
of his inmost, deathless spirit. High purposes invaria- 
bly expand and exalt the best powers of the immortal 
mind — giving harmonial roundness, symmetrical beauty, 
and celestial completeness of inward growth. Pure 
motives go before the individual like a divine magnet — • 
drawing the impressible spirit pleasurably onward, over 
all surrounding evils and prevailing embarrassments. 
There can be no defeat in that spirit which is actuated 
every day and in all moments by the largest, highest, 
purest purposes of which it can conceive. It has been 
clearly shown that the rich and powerful Jews, who 
persecuted and finally killed the body of the poor divine 
friend of humanity, supposing themselves successful the 
while, were really and totally defeated— bankrupt and 
overthrown in every exalted sense ; but the Man, who 
passed so completely through the terrific ordeal, was 
victorious every instant of time — outriding the tempta- 
tions of passion, quelling the storms of the ages, and 
stilling the tempest of cupidity and selfishness. The 
Jews, successful in worldly matters, were in all other 
respects utterly defeated. Behold the effect of that 
martyrdom upon the world. It is teeming with beauti- 
ful sentiments of love and charity — with glorious civil 



84: SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

and educational institutions, that have cropped out and 
blossomed from the fertile influence of that one example 
of a good Man dying that his truths might live. 

High purposes alone presided. If the Infinite Father 
was so moved from the interior — this is the orthodox 
proposition — as to prepare and send to earth his only 
begotten, then the Father was actuated by the highest, 
deepest, and most heavenly purpose. He intended good 
to all and harm to none. Orthodoxy makes a sad theory 
of it. But the spiritual thought, within the crude doc- 
trine, is not destitute of truth. The theory of the flow- 
ering out and incarnation of the Divine Spirit in a 
human being, exhibits love infinitely higher than force, 
and broader than intellect, and more influential — sub- 
duing enmities, overcoming evils, and banishing from 
the earth, passion and strife and war. This is the 
spiritual picture within the theoretical incarnation. In 
this light the incarnation has been a success. Practi- 
cally and philosophically, he alone is truly successful 
who is capable of embosoming and exemplifying those 
high motives which Mary's Son felt, inculcated, and 
manifested in the far distant past. 

The infallible history of each person is written in 
the Summer-Land. A man who lives for himself, loses 
himself. If he wishes to gain the world, he as certainly 
loses it. The death-dealing immoralities of his purposes 
demoralize all parts of him, curtail his beautiful powers, 
paralyze his natural energies, and defeat him every step 
of the way, from the cradle to the coffin. 

But a consolation is at hand. Death is a chemical 
screen — a strainer, a finely-woven sieve— through 
which, by the perpetual flow of the laws of Mother 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 85 

Nature, individuals are passed on to their true stations 
in the Summer-Land. The squares in the death-sieve 
are so exceedingly fine, that only finest particles and 
certain powers and principles can go through; while on 
the earth-side is peeled off and cast down a lifeless mass 
of bones and fleshly corruption. 

A process of refinement is this wondrous chemi.co- 
sieve death-experience. The spirit with the encasing 
soul, hidden centers of life, all the characteristics that 
have distinguished, and all the motives that have influ- 
enced the person — all these easily pass through the 
death-strainer, the screen or sieve ; while the physical 
body and its particles, which cannot pass through, are 
dropped : and what is more gratifying, with the physical 
body are left behind many of those hereditary predis- 
positions and abnormal conditions which gave rise to 
discordant passions and false appetites, called demons 
and unclean spirits. The causes of these demons and 
unclean spirits remain on the earth-side of the death- 
strainer, while the effects, which those causes exerted on 
the soul, being so fine and so mixed with the soul- 
substance, pass through, and remain with the individual 
long after he has attained to his social center in the 
Summer-Land. 

Persons, or, rather, individualities, are not therefore 
destroyed by death. Nothing is changed save the dense 
physical form and the low material world in which they 
live. This chemical screenage, this extraordinary refining 
process and preparation, is one which all have to sub- 
mit to at the end of the present life. The effect there is 
like the birth of each into the present world. Much is 
elevated to the world into which we come at birth ; 



86 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

while, at the same moment, and by the same process, 
much is left behind in the reproductive sphere. 

In the temperaments and characteristics of the indi- 
vidual are laid the foundations of the different " Social 
Centers" that exist in the different mansions of the 
Father's house that was not built with hands. Those 
mansions, or, to continue the figure, the different rooms, 
are inhabited by classes of persons who have taken with 
them, through the death-strainer, different intellectual, 
spiritual, and social characteristics — integral attributes 
and temperamental individualities of character — ruling 
affections, and the effects of propensities that have been 
generated and strengthened by long-continued practices 
in this world before death. 

Regeneration is a spiritualizing process, the same 
after death as it sometimes is before. If the person 
starts from earth interiorly cleansed, he will arrive at 
the next sphere in a corresponding condition. If the 
persons start from their death-screener with the earth, 
the flesh, and the demoniac influences impressed upon 
their souls, they will arrive at and sojourn in appropri- 
ate " Social Centers," with the accumulated effects still 
influencing the inner life and the manifestations of the 
affections. Thus radical differences in men and women 
cause different societies in the next sphere. Are there 
not many persons about you, perhaps dwelling every 
day in your homes, who have " no part or lot" in your 
cherished sentiments and happiest experiences ? You 
sit at the dining-table, you look into the eyes of a per- 
son on the opposite side, and lo ; you are strangers by 
leagues, perhaps you are whole ages asunder. Different 
sentiments, different attractions, and different social 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER- LAND. 87 

habits, give rise to different societies. Perhaps husband 
and wife, or brother and sister, though living in this 
world in the same house, eating at the same table, will 
become members of spiritual societies as far apart as the 
poles asunder. Society would be everywhere monoton- 
ous, both on earth and in the succeeding sphere, if indi- 
viduals were all alike, all cast with the same combination 
of temperaments. 

You begin plainly to comprehend, I think, that if 
these things are true on earth — about you and in you — 
death not destroying you, there must be great "diversi- 
ties" among the inhabitants in the Summer-Land. 
These various super-mundane societies are predicated 
upon the continuation of the radical distinguishing cha- 
racteristics of men and women. There are, conse- 
quently, societies embodying many of the effects of the 
immoral motives and degrading purposes by which 
women and men have been actuated and made miserable 
in this world. 

This is an important and momentous truth. The 
Summer-Land is a natural state of human existence — 
growing out of the universal system of causes and effects, 
laws and ultimates, just as logically and scientifically 
as to-day grew out of yesterday. Are you not to-day, 
in all parts of your being, the legitimate result of what 
the laws, conditions, and experiences of yesterday made 
you ? You are dead to yesterday. Your life is here 
and now. All you know of yesterday is remembrance. 
No man or woman can live in any past hour, except in 
the chambers of intangible memory. You live now, 
and thus it will be innumerable ages hence. The uni- 
versal verdict of reason will be this ever-present con- 



88 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-L1ND. 

sciousness of existence — the Past a ghost of the memory ; 
the Future an unfinished picture, illuminated by the 
inextinguishable lights of eternal hope. Throughout 
innumerable ages, the Past will appear like a dream; 
while the Future will be a subject of curiosity, of sur- 
prise and attractiveness, in the succeeding ages of eter- 
nal life. To-morrow is new and attractive to those who 
live truly in the Present. None can tell with absolute 
certainty what will happen to-morrow. There is, never- 
theless, an universal confidence in its coming, because 
of the immutable and perpetual flow of Nature's laws, 
causing the revolution of the planets and the rising and 
setting of suns — thus all men believe that to-morrow 
will surely come. 

Now 1 will put a question : If your common reason 
tells you so clearly of earthly things, why can you not 
believe your wiser intuitions and their superior logic 
when they tell you of heavenly things ? If ye believe 
that the progression of months and years will surely 
bring you up to the chemical screen called Death, why 
can ye not also believe that the shining river which 
flows skyward, in harmony with the noiseless rotation 
of this planet, will float you through that screen to a 
Social Center in the Summer-Land ? All men go for- 
ward with their thoughts and anticipations — believing, 
with the simplicity of very young children, that to-morrow 
will come. This, I say, is the uprising voice and irre- 
pressible logic of Intuition, aided and confirmed by 
experience, and made practical by the constant, habitual 
exercise of the reasoning faculties. All men naturally 
expect to live over the present, into To-morrow. Thus 
mankind buy lands, and hire carpenters, and build 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN" THE SUMMER-LAND. bU 

beautiful houses, and nicely furnish their new-made 
homes, as though everything, including personal exist- 
ence, was vouchsafed to last forever on earth. But this 
is the usual experience : After all is completed and full} 
prepared — the house garnished and swept, and every- 
thing put in order for a long, luxurious physical life on 
earth — then the death-screen drops, the interior person 
passes through " in the twinkling of an eye," and the 
rich, lawful heirs are left to weep, to put away in the 
ground what the screen refused, and to live as long 
and comfortably as they can upon « the property of the 
deceased." 

It is easy for the human mind to fix its imagination 
upon a long life in this world. So common was this 
inverted testimony of the fancy, that the ancient Jews 
supposed " the kingdom of heaven" was certainly coming 
"on the earth." Mankind, they thought, were not to 
ascend a progressive Jacob's ladder. The heavenly 
kingdom was to be drawn down out of the supernatural 
realm and made literally manifest here — a fancy in reli- 
gion to which Adventists are strongly attached — so that 
great wildernesses would blossom, animals internally 
opposed to each other would become harmonious, and 
lions and lambs would, in peace and friendship, lie down 
together. Christians, with more Ideality, put a spiritual 
interpretation upon the literalness of the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures, and thus made tolerable common sense of what 
thousands of Jews believed to be true from a very differ- 
ent standpoint. In the Lord's Prayer, which contains 
many Jewish thoughts and expressions, we find this 
double-meaning allusion to the kingdom of heaven. 
Now what, think you, was intended by that prayer? 



90 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER- LAND. 

This answer seems correct: It was designed to float 
the mind out of materialism into spiritual thought and 
holy aspiration. " The kingdom of heaven," to the soul 
that uttered the prayer, was a condition of intellectual, 
social, and spiritual harmony ; in which mental condi- 
tion pure truth would reign triumphant, even as it pre- 
vails in every beautiful and harmonious family in the 
Summer-Land, with whom dwell harmony, peace, and 
eternal happiness. The Lord's Prayer is a conception 
which, interiorly viewed, does fully harmonize with the 
deductions of philosophy ; but it was as legitimate a 
development from the Jewish basis of literalism as flow- 
ers are natural growths from the germs which precede 
them. The prayer was constructed with a literal 
"kingdom of heaven" in it, so that the Jewish mind 
could grasp it, and adopt it in its rituals, and thus pray 
for the down-coming and universal expansion of the 
spirit's beautiful truths. 

Now this is my testimony : The Summer-Land, as 
to the origin of the social centers, is made of persons 
from all parts of this inhabitable globe not only, but 
populations also from far-distant planets that are con- 
stituted like this earth — each globe producing an infinite 
variety of radical personal characteristics and tempera- 
mental differences. All these individuals carry upon 
the life within their faces, as well as in the secret 
chambers of their affections, the effects of life on the 
globe that produced them. If the person has been 
moved and governed by high and beautiful motives, 
he naturally and instinctively seeks association with 
those who have been similarly actuated and developed. 
If, on the other hand, the person has been led by low 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 91 

and demoralizing motives, he as naturally seeks those, 
who, before death, had been correspondingly influenced. 
There a man can elect his friends and gravitate to his 
own congenial Social Center — in fact, he can tell before 
he goes, by looking through the death-screen, or strainer, 
with what manner of minds he will probably live ; at 
least until the redemptive evangel of " regeneration" 
through repentance and progression reaches his affec- 
tions, until perfectly pure purposes are born in him ; 
the same in effect whether he starts from a Methodist 
prayer-meeting in New York City, or from the center 
of some spiritual society in the fragrant groves of the 
Summer-Land. Progression out of imperfection is a 
purely spiritual transaction, growing out of the same 
general causes and resulting in the same internal effects 
upon character. Societies, in general terms, are natural 
exponents of the interior realities of the societies of men 
and women on different planets. 

There is there a society or province called " Alto- 
iissa.'' Persons have returned from it and testified that 
they were, while dwellers of earth, almost wholly influ- 
enced by the idea of gaining money, position, power 
among men. And it would seem that these invisible 
characters are influential still among those who are 
similarly organized and influenced in this world. When 
persons are actuated by the selfish motives to accumulate 
wealth, power, position, and influence, they become 
mediums to some extent. As the violet absorbs all but 
the blue ray, or as a red flower absorbs all but the red 
color, so is the mind of man in its impressibilities and 
mediumship. He will take on all that for which he has 
affinity. He will absorb from each society in the Sum- 



92 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

mer-land precisely such influences as are in accordance 
with his magnetic powers, and he will exclude all other 
influences, from whatever source. 

Now if the death-strainer, or screen, was not per- 
fect — if, when passing through the chemical change, we 
do not leave the causes of appetites and passions behind 
us — then, in truth, men in this world would really be 
injured and degraded by contact with the unseen popu- 
lations. But men are benefited, and not injured, by 
such contact. Now and then men are stimulated some- 
what in their course ; but they are not degraded, are 
not made worse by the contact; only patted on the 
back, flattered by unwise spirits, and sometimes approved, 
as a too fond mother approbates her pet child even in 
its errors. So men, moving in very low and demoralizing 
circles in this world, will sometimes experience a sort 
of self-satisfaction and contentment. They do not have 
those " fine compunctions" of conscience, which so many 
pious people imagine they must necessarily have ; these 
feelings are for a time laid aside, not by the use of 
tobacco, alcohol, and opium, but by sympathetic con- 
tact with those spirits who are not wise and grown in 
purity. 

Such characters on earth absorb the rays of spirit- 
life that are congenial to them, and exclude all the 
others. Thus you see men moving as earnestly against 
the truth as for it. It is a matter of astonishment to 
many Northmen how the Southerners can have their 
religious meetings and political gatherings, appoint " a 
day" for sincere " prayers" to be sent to the kingdom of 
heaven, and do all thrngs just like the " loyal" and 
" religious" people of the North. Do you suppose that 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 93 

men who have gone from the ranks of Rebeldom, and 
who have passed through the screen of death, suddenly 
lost all religious and political notions on the death-bed ? 

' No. The rule works both ways. They have a political 
scheme and a religious experience, and both were to 

! them genuine. These return to their brethren in the 
South. When earnestly engaged in devotion and prayer, 

jj the Southerner feels as heaven-approved as the 
Northerner. You know that the discordant man, who 
walks Broadway with murder in his heart, can see the 
sun as clearly as can the man of peace. A morally bad 
character can physiologically eat and drink and sleep 
just as well as can the best. The laws that operate 
in your physical being operate the same in his. He 
goes round with the planet, experiences the flow and 
recession of emotions ; but he can only absorb those influ- 
ences from society with which he has affiuity, and he knows 
nothing of what others experience. Suppose,for example, 
that I should " exchange pulpits" with the evangelical 
Brother who lectures every Sunday in Grace Church. 
The ladies and gentlemen there would absorb from me 

' only those thoughts and sentiments for which they have 
an educational sympathy. They would reject every- 
thing else. There would be between us no sympathy, 
no fellowship; yet they are constituted just like our- 
selves, and in ten years from this they may come to feel 
as we do ; but it is not at all likely that we shall ever 
feel as they do, because souls cannot go back. 

Hence those who go to the Summer-Land cannot 
return just as bad as they were before they started. 
Going through death cleansed them largely of causes, 
conditions, and temptations, leaving with them the 



94: SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

results treasured up in their affections, in their sympa- 
thies, in their antipathies, inclinations, disinclinations, 
loves, hates, attractions, and repulsions. Of course they 
have sympathy only for congenial associations in that 
better life ; but such associations are, necessarily, on a 
higher plane than though they were of earth. The 
" higher plane," however, is so little removed, so slightly 
shaded off from that in which they lived while here, 
that it requires but little change to feel themselves " at 
home." 

True, contradictory characters often go to the Sum- 
mer-Land. Sometimes imagination gets the start of 
conscience. The youth feels, thinks, hopes beyond his 
powers to grasp or attain ; but as the years roll through 
the spirit, he grows gradually solid, and strong, and 
practical. Conscience is not fully born in some souls 
until after death ; that is, the idea of right and wrong is 
to them " a theory." I have seen persons, who, having 
a very large sense of right and wrong, wondered how 
their most intimate acquaintances could do things dia- 
metrically antagonistic to such sense without being sur- 
prised or astonished, and still live among folks just as 
though nothing had happened. It is because the con- 
scientious part of the spirit had not yet been fully born. 
The person might have been born on three or five sides 
of his character, and yet there remain other parts not 
born from error and wrong, and hence the defective- 
ness ; hence, also, the monstrosity which the character 
and conduct of such a person presents — deceiving, mur- 
dering, robbing — yet thinking nothing more of the 
self-condemnation of his crimes than most men do of 
transacting their ordinary business. It is because these 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMEK-LAND. 95 

men have not as much light in principles as you ; they 
do not yet perceive the white ray of pure justice ; they 
cannot take it in, any more than a red plant could take 
in the red ray. So a man who cannot absorb the princi- 
ple of justice is a man who cannot comprehend its 
requirements. 

Society is constructed so as to require regeneration 
and progression. The Christian system prays for the 
better time. Nicodemus asked how a man could be 
taken out of his defects — brought out of the flesh and 
made as pure as spirit. Jesus did not answer him in 
common words, but told him that as he could not under- 
stand the ordinary phenomena of Nature — the blowing 
of the wind, for example — he certainly could not under- 
stand that which was interior and far more extraor- 
dinary, like the birth of the spirit. 

It has been ascertained by multitudes of witnesses, 
by experiments, and by conversations with those who 
have returned from the Summer-Land, that those. who 
have demoralizing motives in this life have the greatest 
density on their arrival. In Altolissa, the section where 
many persons go, who, in this world, lived wholly under 
the influence of selfishness, the population seems about 
as comfortable as general society on earth. Jews still 
believe in the doctrine of their fathers — Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob: the Roman Catholics hold the same views 
they did before death; and there are other sects in 
Altolissa who think and believe in the same things and 
forms of faith they learned on earth. The sects will 
long continue in their various sympathies and educa- 
tional associations. Of course, progressively and quite 
imperceptibly, this world will grow better and more 
5 



96 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

harmonious. Men will intuitively differ less and less 
upon fundamental principles. But in the " details" — 
in the ramifications of thought — this endless variety of 
convictions and affinities will prevail. The foundations 
for countless and various societies in the Summer-Land 
are thus laid and established. Death is largely a cleans- 
ing process, and is the hope of the world, not its point 
of darkness. 80 beautiful are its sittings, strainings, 
and other processes, that the active causes of passions 
and appetites are dropped and left on earth with the 
gross materiality. So beautiful is the law of Progress, 
that even the active effects that accompany the individual 
cannot be perpetuated (as evils and discords) through- 
out eternity. Why ? Because in the center of the 
universe a positive power reigns, breathing its spirit 
throughout the illimitable spaces: and, and by the slow 
workings of its progressive laws, it cleanses all person- 
alities of their transient imperfections. Only eternal 
good can eternally exist. There is a universal gathering 
of all spirits and angels — not in one place, under the 
blaze of one heavenly central sun, but under the influ- 
ence of musical distributions, of harmonious varieties, 
each adding completeness and happiness to the other. 
Many persons are harmonized in this world when they 
are " born again," and thus lifted out of their low 
motives and consequent imperfections. Hundreds and 
thousands of " things" that annoy, vex, and wear the 
spirit, before it is thus born, cease to exert any bad 
effect. Such minds grow sweet, and gentle, and loving, 
under the new life ; before, the same persons were hate- 
ful, discordant, and full of consuming passions. The 
evil woman, who had " seven deviis" cast out of her, is 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 97 

an instance of what good can be accomplished by 
exchanging bad motives for good ones. How many 
hateful propensities, how many demonic habits, and 
how many unladylike characteristics were cast out of 
her by the psychological power, is left to every one's 
imagination. 

The Catholics believe that each purified soul has 
" died" to the influences of this world. The Shakers 
hold a similar white banner over the redeemed — - 
" Come in and dwell with us, put on the plain garb, 
renounce the world's evil habits and cruel customs, 
among other things the evils of marriage and marriage 
itself, and you will be saved ; for thus you die to the 
world." Nuns enter convents under the psychological 
impression that before death they can leave the world 
and its sins, become spiritually sweet and beautiful, and 
acceptable brides for the only Son. There is a 
poetic sublimity in the thought. 

Now there are persons yet in the world who know 
that they can put their crushing heel on the serpent's 
head. They have learned that they can resist striking 
a brother, in passion ; and, what is far better, they can 
resist the passion which would suggest the blow. Strong, 
vigorous, full-blooded men, have conquered the demon 
of passion. Such conquering heroes would not go 
among the Heenans who live in sections of the Summer- 
Land, except as Moral Policemen, as philanthropists, 
but never in the capacity of associates. And yet you 
know that there are men, and women, too, who " hugely 
enjoy" the Heenan style of life ; they like the very 
thought of it, the exciting manifestations of it, and the 
large, beautiful, abandoned animality which it displays 



98 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

and indorses. If they enjoy it, how do they enjoy it ? 
Do they by means of their physiological or phrenologic- 
al organs ? They enjoy it by means of those talents 
and faculties which live within physical organs, and 
which the screenage of death does not refine away and 
crush out of the person. 

Therefore there is a great individual work here to 
be done. The ounce of prevention is wanted which 
will make the tons of cure unnecessary. Each person 
can start on the right track before death ; this is the 
best place to get under full sail for a happier harbor. 
To-day is better than to-morrow. The sooner you 
begin, the farther you will find yourself in the path of 
harmonious life. 

This is the doctrine which we are impressed to 
teach. I think all should commence at once to see 
what can be done toward preparing for a better, 
sweeter screenage at death, and to insure a beautiful 
entrance into superior societies. No one can hurt the 
Infinite Father nor the Infinite Mother — you can per- 
manently injure -only yourself. This being the truth, 
we have but to proclaim, " Repent ye, for the kingdom 
of heaven is" — next door, just beyond, on the other 
side of the death-screen, through which each must 
sooner or later pass. How many persons will feel, 
after attaining the elevation of self-control, that they 
have begun anew ! But how many cross, sour counte- 
nances, there will be while going through the trial of 
trying to be good. If Nicodemus could have under- 
stood that to be " born of water" was a natural and 
indispensable forerunner of being " born of the spirit," 
he would have first given attention to the correction 



SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER- LAND. 99 

of his personal habits and physical appetites. Thus he 
would have had more harmonious, more sweet, and 
more beautiful bodily sensations. He would have 
become a better neighbor and a truer Governor in 
Israel, a more agreeable companion ; and there would 
have been a cheerful, buoyant, juvenile flow of light, 
joy, and peace, within his lifted spirit ; in short, he 
would have soon experienced the difference between a 
son of God and a son of Belial. 

I know it is a hard doctrine to preach, that now is 
" the accepted time." But this death-screen, which 
hangs before us, is as certain to fix upon each the 
effects of habits and mental conditions as that to-morrow 
will be the natural result of the causes and conditions 
of to-day. Each person can in this world select his 
associations after death. It is, therefore, important 
to get a passport to harmonious central societies in the 
Summer-Land. You should feel no enmity toward any 
human being, however much you have been injured. 
The lion and the lamb lie down together only within 
the purified human spirit. The hidden, cave-like cere- 
bellum, the back-brain, is a den full of untamed animals. 
Spiritual Truth is the only conqueror that can enter 
and still the passions, tame them to peace, and hold 
them in abeyance until the outward disturbance is gone. 
Motives, when high, lift up the soul, which is thus pre- 
pared to be a better neighbor and more successful in 
all the genuine enterprises of present life. 

All true progress brings an immediate and glorious 
satisfaction. We discourse upon " life and immor- 
tality," not because it is a spiritual fact, but because it 
is the foundation and inspiration of immediate personal 



100 SOCIAL CENTERS IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

improvements. It stimulates us to beautiful effort, and 
causes us to teach practical reforms. We can bring 
innumerable tests and mathematical evidences that these 
things, which we relate with respect to the other 
sphere, are true; but time will supply you with all 
necessary testimonies ; many of them you have already 
heard, many of them you know by heart 3 and ask for 
nothing more. Now, therefore, the time has come for 
each to step upon the solid rock of Truth — of eternal 
principles — which will surely stand, while the spirit 
makes substantial progress toward higher and more 
beautiful societies which blossom beyond the stars. 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND 



"Open tby soul to God. O Man, and talk 
Through thine unfolded faculties with Him 
Who never, save through faculties of mind, 
Spake to the Fathers." 

Portions of the New Testament are opulent with 
hints of eternal truths. They are parts of the unspeaka- 
ble harmonies of God and Nature. In the writings of 
John (chap, xix., v. 2,) there is a beautiful, social, 
spiritual affirmation, which begins, "In my Father's 
house." Like a child he speaks of his father's posses- 
sions in a pleasant and grateful spirit. "In my Father's 
house there is one immense room — no separate chambers 
and no compartments — adapted to only one family of 
one mind and one faith." Does it read so? No; but 
it would suit the orthodox sectarians if the verse were so 
written. The passage reads thus : " In my Father's 
house there are many mansions ; if it were not so, I 
would have told you." 

Yes, if there were not " many mansions" in the 
house of God, the intuitive Nazarene would have known 
the fact. Multitudinous human hopes and tender aspi- 
rations have sailed over the river on that beautiful 
barge — on that mystic affirmation — which, floating on 



102 WINTER-LAST) AND SOMMER LAND. 

the flowing sea of the olden time, comes very near tc 
our hearts to-day, not valuable because it is laden with 
priestly authority, but because it comes indorsed by 
the spiritual discoveries and positive facts of the last 
fifteen years. 

" In my Father's house there are many mansions ; if 
it were not so, I would have told you." How tender 
and beautiful, how simple and true, how childlike and 
sublime ! The earth is the Land of Winter, of storms 
and sorrows ; but the second sphere is the Summer- 
Land of repose and infinite blossoming. Many apart- 
ments in the Summer-Land for different peoples and 
races of men. Various localities and spheres for dif- 
ferent inclinations. Provision is made for the com- 
plete gratification of the diversities of spiritual desires 
in human character, so that all races and all states of 
mind will be " at home" in the Father's house which is 
eternal in the heavens — friendly brotherhoods all, 
though billions, trillions of leagues apart ! 

Whose heart does not beat in melodious harmony 
with that beautiful sentiment from the Iutuitions of long 
ago — with that ever dear and lovingly sweet affirmation 
from the source of positive revelation? It comes clad 
with the majestic authority in which all truth travels to 
mankind. It stamps the spirit with an inward con- 
viction of « eternal reality." 

On this globe there are high mountains yet utter 
strangers to human footsteps. Those grand old monu- 
ments of matter, with their tops perpetually cloud- 
vailed, have been for centuries innumerable unknown to 
human intelligence and contemplation. Storms are 
beneath their lofty summits. No man's foot has pressed 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 103 

their dizzy hights. The tempests are lower down. So 
our mariners report of storms on the vast oceans. But 
down deep in the waters all is still ; high enough in the 
air, all is calm. The middle ground is where the fierce 
battles of the elements are fought. The conflicting- 
powers meet and pass each other, never to meet again. 
Sometimes they meet and fight with such terrible energy 
as, for the moment, to shake the neighboring earth and 
cause the bending heavens to tremble as though they 
were to be rolled together as a scroll. And yet deep 
enough in the inanimate apartments of the physical 
world all is still and peaceful ; high enough in the ethe- 
real space all is equally silent and without commotion. 
Indeed, so perfectly still is the air above at a certain 
hight, that the stroke of a hammer on a log's end could 
be heard from New York to California. The slightest 
accent of the human voice could be there heard for 
hundreds of miles. Persons might converse with the 
Atlantic between them, in a voice not louder than is 
usual, if they were high enough up in this ethereal 
realm. The sun that shines with such glory and splendor, 
distributing warmth and fertilization over the earth's 
bosom, playing so sweetly and tenderly with the flow- 
ers and laughing with the rivers that come flowing 
down from the mountains, exerts no influence upon this 
upper sky-region. Go up fifteen to twenty miles, and 
you find utter night, notwithstanding the noontide glory 
and blaze of the sun's rays on the face of the earth. 
The effect of the sun's rays is altogether terrestrial, not 
atmospherical ; that is, the manifestation of its light 
and warmth is attributable more to mundane than to 
solar causes, 
5* 



104: "WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

The wonders of the physical atmosphere, within the 
fifty miles, would be a tax upon any one's faith. And 
yet I ask you to ascend in your thoughts millions and 
billions of miles beyond our earth's atmosphere. In the 
physical world you find works and wonders inexpressi- 
ble. How expressive of the spiritual grandeur and 
omnipotence of the Infinite Soul ! How can you but be 
filled with adoration and most glorious contemplations 
when the celestial truth is brought to your mind, that 
" in the Father's house are many mansions." If it were 
not so, the seers and mediums would have told you. 

Let us think of the physical aspect of the Summer- 
Land. Many persons have understood me to have said 
that it is a globe. I do not mean to be so understood. 
The beautiful Land, as I have frequently seen it, and as 
many have testified concerning it, is a solid belt of land, 
or zone, round in form like the tire of a wheel, but it is 
not a globe — is not spherical nor inhabitable in all 
directions. Imagine a belt extending above the earth 
two-thirds of the distance from the sun, and say seventy 
millions of miles wide. Imagine that belt to be immea- 
surably larger than the sun's path around Alcyone in 
the deep of immensity. Suppose this belt to be open at 
the sides, and filled with worlds and crowned with stars 
and suns, and overhead and all around a firmament just 
like these heavens above the earth. Look in that 
direction and you will see just what you see on earth, 
only everything further unfolded and more perfect. 
There is exhibited the perfections of the plans of the 
infinite temple which here is only fractional and frag- 
mentary. Thus you may somewhat imagine the appear- 
ance and shape of the Summer-Land. 



WINTER- LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 105 

What is called the " Milky Way" is really a belt of 
suns, and planets, and satellites. There seems also to 
be branch-fields of stars, setting off sidewise from the 
body of the belt. Then when the telescope is pointed 
in certain directions, where the unaided human eye can 
see nothing, there are developed, first nebulae-cloudy 
regions ; next, if the telescope be strong enough, like 
Lord Ross's, it reveals the fact that what were sup- 
posed to be only star-clouds, are immense fields of stars, 
suns, and lesser bodies. Those star-fields open here 
and there and make a vista, and, looking through, there 
is revealed a black space which no telescope has yet 
been able to dissolve ; but clairvoyance has made the 
promise that when the telescopic power is adequate, 
what now appear to be only empty portions of immensity 
will turn out to be as full of those orbs as the great 
meadow is full of spears of grass. There are large 
islands of atmosphere between the planets. These air- 
islands serve as silken cushions (so to say) to keep the 
rolling planets supplied with electricity and also to pre- 
vent the friction which would exist were all the spaces 
occupied with worlds. So that there are really "atmo- 
spheric islands" (as I am impressed to term them) as well 
as immeasurable star-systems, in the far-off immensity. 

Now the Summer-Land is in harmony with this 
physical circle of planets called the " Milky Way." It 
is a belt, a zone, or girdle, of real, substantial matter. It 
is beyond the Milky Way only in the sense of its being 
far-off according to our habits of using language. When 
liberated at death, we do not move on toward the sun, 
nor drop downwards into some dreary depth of dark- 
ness ; we embark on a sidewise voyage, directly above 



106 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

the southern extremity of our planet, and thence onward 
until we reach the Summer-Land ! What shore do we 
gain ? We gain the shore of a land just like this earth, 
if this earth were a stratified belt composed of the finest 
possible particles that you can imagine thrown from all 
the orbs composing the universes. Pulverize and 
attenuate the finest particles of matter on this earth ; 
then bring them together in chemical relations ; make 
them coalesce and form into an immeasurable golden 
belt with all the visible suns and stars, and you have 
the Second Sphere in its substance, position, and forma- 
tion. 

Do you not comprehend that that Land is as sub- 
stantial to those who live there as this earth is to its 
inhabitants ? The proportions and the adaptations are 
the same. The Summer-Land, so far as the surrounding 
immensity is concerned, is bounded on all sides by aerial 
seas. Suppose you should go down to any of those high 
points of land along the coast, and look off on the 
watery expanse of the Atlantic ocean. What would you 
see ? No islands are visible ; only an atmosphere over- 
head ; clouds are floating in the blue sky, and all the 
rest is water. Now suppose you had never seen, or read, 
or heard of such a spectacle. What would be your 
first impression? Your first sensuous impression would 
be that all the immensity beyond was water, as all 
above is sky, and that, if you should sail off on that 
dreary waste, you would be lost utterly to land and to 
human society. Such, I say, would be your impression 
or apprehension on the supposition that you had no pre- 
vious knowledge of any such spectacle in Nature. 

Now imagine yourself standing on one of those 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER- LAND. 107 

shining shores on the margin of the Summer-Land, 
Looking toward the Earth, and Sun, and Mercury, and 
Venus, what would you see ? If you were not a far- 
seeing clairvoyant, but was contemplating with the first 
opening of your spiritual eyes, you would see an illi- 
mitable ocean of twinkling stars overhead and zones of 
golden suns shining, and you would realize a holy, 
celestial atmosphere, bounding your existence on all 
sides, and from your feet the departure of an ocean 
without shore or island, without form, and void of all 
relations. If, however, your clairvoyant sight was 
opened — if your spiritual eyes had the light of far- 
penetrating clairvoyance in them — you would instantly 
perceive that the aerial ocean, which flows out into 
infinity from your feet, ripples off and divides into beau- 
tiful ethereal rivers, and that those rapidly flowing 
rivers lead away to the planets, even to this Earth, 
whence you departed, while another river flows onward 
to Mars, another to Jupiter, another to Saturn, and 
other celestial streams to other more distant planets 
belonging to other systems of suns ; and so on, and on, 
throughout the star-paved regions of the firmament, you 
would behold, in every imaginable direction, streams 
running musically down these gentle atmospheric 
declivities, just as tangibly as the rivers that run down 
the mountains and flow through the spaces in the 
rough landscapes of this more material world. 

I wish ! oh how I wish ! that I could picture to you 
the reality of these musical rivers of the heavenly spaces. 
They are musical to the ear that can hear them flowing 
between the constellations. Pythagoras and his school 
believed in the deathless " music of the spheres." Did 



108 WINTER LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

not the students of Pythagoras listen to catch that 
compound symphony ? And was it not this very star- 
melody which caused them to be such enthusiasts in 
Music ? Did not some of them in the far-off olden 
time have clairaudience enough to hear through the 
physical, and also clairvoyance sufficient to see that "in 
the Father's house there are many mansions" — many 
happy and beautiful places — many apartments or spheres 
of human life — and that these different apartments in 
the celestial temple were so many local scenes and land- 
scapes, belonging to the Summer-Land, which breathe 
eternal harmony throughout infinitude — "the music of 
the spheres" ? 

Now suppose you were this moment standing on the 
shining shore of the Summer-Land and looking this way, 
the out-flowing sea would appear about the same to your 
sight, without the light of clairvoyance, as would the 
Atlantic Ocean to the natural eye from the promonto- 
ries of Nahant. It would, perhaps, at first, be no more 
of a startling spectacle of incomprehensible sublimity. 
Very many persons depart every day from this Land of 
Winter for the Summer-Land. When they are led 
through the celestial gardens and down by the shining 
shores, and when they begin to hear the lapping of 
musical waves as they ripple in from the very remote 
planets, bringing upon their throbbing, undulating 
bosoms, new persons who had but just died (left their 
gross bodies) on those planets— the scene Operates upon 
them (because yet uninitiated) just as though you were 
to see spirits with beautiful forms suddenly coming from 
off the water by the seaside, or persons walking and 
riding upon the surface of the waters at Nahant, or down 






WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 109 

here on the ocean near the rocky shores of Long Island. 
I say the first exhibition astonishes them as much as 
such a novel scene would surprise you of this world. 

I will now relate a true story : A little girl, who 
had lost her darling playmate, dreamed about the 
Summer-Land. This sweet little weeping dreamer lived 
in Boston. I knew her well. Death had taken her 
beautiful mate away. The funeral procession went by 
the door of her father's house. Her mother owned a 
cushioned seat in a fashionable church, and of course 
the little daughter had a fashionable, religious direction 
given to her thoughts. What were her thoughts on 
death ? She thought all of her little mate was put 
" into the ground" — laid low in the cold, loveless earth ; 
and that when the insensate gravel, stones, and chilly 
soil, were thrown from the spades upon the coffin, they 
covered all that there was of her, and all there would 
be of her, until that mysterious " trump" would sound 
in the "resurrection morn," when Jehovah would call 
those long-sleeping "jewels" that were particularly his 
own, to himself. 

Well, little Mattie stood weeping by the front- 
window as the pageantry went solemnly through the 
street toward the green retreats of Mount Auburn. She 
asked her mother what it all meant. Over and over 
again the mother answered that they were going to bury 
the little girl " in the ground" ! This seemed to strike 
Mattie, for the first time, as something horrible to think 
of. She had, perhaps, never thought seriously of it 
before ; the dread reality of this false view of death 
never touched her affections till now. She had seen 
funeral processions ; but this particular funeral went 



110 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

out of her saddened heart to the silent cemetery. Her 
mother said that God always did so ; it was his own 
mysterious way. When people die they are put into 
the ground, then the ground is thrown over them, and 
the grass and the ages grow over them ; when the time 
comes, they arise from their long sleep and hasten to 
God, if they are called; if not — you know the rest of 
the story. 

Mattie sadly swallowed all this religious error, and 
shuddered. She was a beautiful girl then — a young 
lady now. 

Two weeks after that funeral there was a fashiona- 
ble party in Boston. Mattie received an invitation. 
Her parents were very rich, and she had gold rings and 
chains, and many beautiful dresses ; but she now wanted 
another and a more attractive ring, which she had acci- 
dentally seen down in Washington street. It was a 
splendid ornament. She wanted it in time for the 
party. Her parents shook their heads and opposed 
her wishes. They said she had so many ornaments, was 
always so beautifully dressed, and so elegantly and 
expensively arranged in her person, she ought not to 
ask for anything more. It was difficult for parental 
love to deny her, an only child ; but they did, neverthe- 
less, refuse to purchase the ring. 

Disappointed and grieved, Mattie hastened to her 
room and thought it over ; and on the second day in the 
afternoon, as her mother chanced to be looking out of 
the rear window into the garden, she saw the child 
working away with a little flower-spade, digging a 
small, deep hole in the ground. The mother watched 
for a while, and then went down to her and said. 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 11] 

" Mattie, my child, what are you doing ?" Mattie 
blushed. Already she had deposited in the ground a 
letter, and was throwing the fresh dirt upon it. She 
was embarrassed at her mother's question. She feared 
that she could not quite explain herself. In explanation 
she at length confessed that she wanted that « letter to 
go to God." She had secretly written, praying and 
entreating her heavenly Father to influence her fathei 
and mother so that they would consent to buy that 
beautiful ring for her. Her plan was, to send a letter 
" through the grave to God." 

Now Mattie got the splendid ring; but I think she 
was never quite certain whether it came in consequence 
of having " buried" the letter or not. She did not then see 
why a letter could not go to God through the earth. But 
in the course of the same year little Mattie had impressed 
upon her mind a beautiful dream. She told it next 
morning with a full rose in her cheeks and a new light 
in her eyes. She saw her playmate! She was in a 
beautiful place, standing by the side of a great silvery 
sea. The water was shining and twinkling in every 
part like a lake of white light. She said it seemed that 
the sun was sending a golden shimmer through the vast 
space of glittering waters. Mattie described the scene 
very finely, and said that her playmate was standing up 
there and sending kisses to her way down that silvery 
river. She declared that she felt every kiss as it fell 
upon her lips! And then she added, "She told me that 
I need not bury anything to go up there, and that I 
would myself come there and play with her in that 
beautiful place." 

Now this little girl knew nothing whatever of the 



112 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

Summer-Land. I was at that time a great many leagues 
away ; and her mother, whom I knew, was very cautious 
to never so much as "whisper" the slightest word 
favorable to truths of the Harmonial dispensation. 

Visions like Mattie's have been duplicated and tri- 
plicated over and over throughout this new country. 
Of course they have been modified and varied in a large 
variety of ways, but the testimony from different minds 
is invariably the same — viz. : that there are up there 
lands, rivers, mansions in the Father's house, temples 
of beauty in the home of the living God ; that countless 
people live there as naturally as they do here — with the 
difference that up there are not the earthly customs, nor 
this routine of daily fret and fight for physical necessi- 
ties, neither a continuation of the vexations consequent 
upon men's spurious desires and appetites. Yes, kisses 
have been sent down the shining rivers to the lips of 
many human hearts. 

A little girl in Bridgeport, in 1853 was moved to 
utter words of wisdom which only an archangel could 
authorize. She spoke under a celestial afflatus from the 
Summer-Land. " Fools confound the wise," when the 
former are under the inspiration of heavenly minds. 
Thus, sometimes, the most ignorant grow wise in ten 
brief minutes. All such mediums and spontaneous 
" sensitives" describe rivers of light ! This is supposed 
by materialists to be poetry. They are right. It is 
poetry. In essence all poetry is immutable truth, and 
essentially false imagination is a philosophical impossi- 
bility. Take the crudest and most grotesque supersti- 
tions of the past, and at their deepest heart you will 
find, if your own ability to discern is deep enough, reve- 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 113 

lations " pure and undefiled" of the realities and inhabit- 
ants of the Beyond. 

I have frequently called your attention to the 
naturalness of the Summer-Land. Its reality is among 
the philosophical discoveries of the present out-folding 
century. The most ancient Spiritualists, in the very 
earliest centuries, be it ever remembered, gave inspired 
sentences, and made intuitive statements, and wrote line 
revelations of these same celestial wonders and post- 
mundane verities. 

Let us now contemplate some of the " Scenes" in the 
Beautiful Land. Approaching the shining shore upon 
one of these silvery rivers, that sets out from the southern 
extremity of this globe, you behold thousands of " Pira- 
dela," or grottoes and natural temples of clustering 
foliage, vines, and flowers, closely resembling lace- 
worked chapels. In these peculiar pagodas, or family 
prayer-grottoes, you behold persons who still believe in 
Ammon Ra, the original. Egyptian name and conception 
of the Supreme Being. I have already mentioned that 
the Egyptians had chosen a star," Guptarion," and that 
they have long seasons of worship, of joy and festivity, 
equal to an hundred years of restful Sabbaths, or as 
long as the star of their choice, Guptarion, shines over 
that particular portion of the Summer-Land. When 
the great star (sun) of their destiny sinks out of their 
sight, they cease their worshipings and festivities and 
return to other and less religious interests. They are 
about the same people they were while living in the 
valley of the Nile; only they are now in a higher 
Egypt, clothed in spiritual bodies. Many of them con- 
16 



114: WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

tinue their old-time worship just as though they would 
always remain Egyptians. 

It is marvelous how immobile and persistent are 
some of the human temperaments! In some races they 
yield almost nothing in the course of a thousand years. 
The prevalence of other opinions, other thoughts, and 
other conceptions, exert no remodeling effect in some 
minds. 

Now many persons think this statement is unreal. 
Well, look at the Jews of this generation. Are they 
not still the Jews that they were eighteen hundred years 
ago ? The variations and improvements are very slight. 
The Rabbinites and the Talmudians are the same. Look 
at their physiognomy, too. and look at the combinations 
of their characteristics, their inclinations in religion and 
in trade, and you will find them the same unaltered 
people. Or, look at the Roman Catholics. You may 
think that they are greatly modified. No, they are not. 
There has scarcely been an alteration in them from the 
first days of their faith. Those who come to this coun- 
try, are occasionally modified by Protestant influences. 
But the great Catholic establishment is characterized 
by a constitutional immobility. It is based in the fixed 
temperaments of those peculiar minds who belong to it. 
Protestants still revert to the Catholic Church. Such 
minds belong to the sphere of authority. They believe 
in religious system, and they seek and find 'it in the 
original establishment. They believe that Protestant- 
ism is all afloat ; that there must be some " tying-up 
place," or there will come chaos and destruction in 
morals and religion. Such persons need some place of 
discipline and worship where they can «• hire their 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 115 

thinking done for them/' according to authority extend- 
ing backward over centuries to holy Saints and holy 
Fathers whom no Protestant ever undertakes to impeach. 
In this way this state of mind becomes fixed and im- 
mobile. 

Now suppose such a person should die: what is the 
next step? Are such minds instantly changed? Are 
they ever suddenly re-molded from within ? True, they 
are changed from a natural body into a spiritual body 
in "the twinkling of an eye." But are they not the 
same persons, with the same education, and influenced 
by their long-accustomed thoughts? Many such after 
death still believe that somewhere, beyond the bright 
fields of beauty, and even beyond the trials of purgatory, 
they will find the burning pit. They frequently think 
that if they should walk off but a few hundred leagues, 
they would find something worse than purgatory. They 
naturally enough understand that they are in purga- 
tory, and thus the fact dawns slowly upon them, that 
they are in their appropriate private places, and are 
receiving the just discipline of Progress in the moral 
government of God. 

So these ancient Egyptians, born in the valley of 
the Nile — strange children of a strange, sandy, symbolic 
country — erect countless little " pyramidalia," or tem- 
ples of festivity and worship, dedicated to their long- 
chosen planet Sirius — sometimes called the dog-star ; 
but up there they name it " Guptarion" — a large sun in 
the distant heavens, which our astronomers call a "star 
of the first magnitude." It rises and sets in the firma- 
ment over the Summer-Land once in twenty-seven of 
our centuries ! Suppose a bright orb about one-tenth 



116 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

of the apparent size of our sun, rising and shedding its 
rays over a particular portion of the Beautiful World, 
and you get a conception of the star of destiny in the 
Egyptian Brotherhood. The pyramidalia are natural 
vine-draped grottoes grouped along the shore of a deep 
river that branches from the one which flows thither 
from our globe. 

You will keep in memory how this earth of ours 
sends off its main celestial river which flows off south- 
wardly in the upper air, and which, being a magnetic 
combination of imponderable elements, ascends very 
gracefully in the channel of its flight, terminating and 
mingling with the silvery sea that bounds the Summer- 
Land. The planet-rivers flow through the vast expanse 
of sea as the Gulf Stream flows through the Atlantic 
Ocean. Thus through this vast celestial sea of mag- 
netic atmosphere the planetary streams flow directly to 
the shining shores of the Summer-Land ; but nearest to 
that shore which is nearest the earth, and along the 
inland lake called " Mornia," which is filled with 
attractive islands, you will find these embowered chap- 
els and prayer-grottoes of the Egyptians. 

In 1853 I was enabled for the first time to see 
them. I continued to investigate and to make inquiries 
until I got at the motive for the cultivation and con- 
tinuation of these pyramidalia. They said that those 
fragrant floral structures are little statuettes, or minia- 
ture pyramids, dedicated to the celebrated dog-star, 
Sirius, or " Guptarion," being the accredited home of 
Ainmon Ra. 

I seem to be impressed with the desire to urge upon 
your understanding the entire naturalness of the next 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 117 

state of human existence. It seems desirable that you 
should see that the inhabitants there live in harmonious 
accord with each other, because of the omniscient sys- 
tem which is adapted to the infinite varieties of human 
character and consequent diversities of destiny. When 
you arrive there — and you may embark thither before 

'< the end of this year — you will not be a stranger, for 
vou will have cultivated some prescience of the "house" 

I 1 constructed with different " mansions/' 

Have you not had fore-gleams and intuitions of what 

I I now relate? Have you never had thoughts or impres- 
sions — in your dreams and visions of the night — of 

ij floating or flying through the air? If the thousands of 
seeresses and clairvoyants and true dreamers could rise 

jj up to-day and relate their "experiences," I should have 
unimpeachable accumulative testimony, sufficient to over- 

j whelm all the skeptical clergymen and logical lawyers 

! in the wide world. 

You occasionally read the New Testament, do you 

j not? I suppose that you believe somewhat in the 
Pentecostal experience which is therein recorded. It 
seemed that, in that joyful day, they all arose from their 
seats — and then what? They spoke in "unknown 
tongues" ! Of course unknown tongues were tongues not 
understood. The manifestation must have been gib- 
berish and fanatical to those who witnessed and 
recorded the circumstances. 

Suppose that in these days there should be a public 
repetition of that ancient spiritual " experience." In- 
stantly some mediums would begin to discourse in Per- 
sian, others in Indian, others in Chinese, others in 
Japanese, others in Latin, others in Greek — would it 



118 WINTEfJ-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 



not be " all Greek" to the most of us, and more espe 
cially to spectators and non-sympathizing minds ? What 
would we say ? And what would the people say ? This: 
"Give us something that we can all understand." Yes, 
that would be the popular demand. But just step back 
into the New Testament and read the statement over 
again. In Pentecostal times or seasons there was a 
general uprising or condescension of the celestial spirit. 
" The spirit of the Lord" was poured out without stint. 
Of course you know that every sweet or powerful influ- 
ence from the firmament was called the " spirit of the 
Lord." Influences from the concentrated minds of 
millions in the Summer-Land could cause the largest 
human audience to rise to their feet in an instant. Then 
would occur manifestations according to individual gifts. 
Some would exercise the magnetic power and make 
passes over the sick ; others would hasten off on sweet 
missions of mercy ; some would declaim in unknown 
tongues; while others would fall prostrate and swoon 
into a trance, and physicians would say, " Oh, that is 
only excitement and hysteria." And all this would be 
analogous — identical — with what you so reverently read 
in your Testament. Now if this Bible statement be 
true, it is interesting and applicable to us only just so 
far as it is known and corroborated by spiritual expe- 
rience in the manifestations of these days. 

If modern minds were consulted, many would say, 
" we have seen something of what you relate." " In the 
visions of the night, when deep sleep cometh upon meu," 
many a sensitive soul would say, "I have seen beauti- 
ful landscapes." These visions come and depart sud- 
denly. Sometimes, indeed, they are nothing but the 






WINTER-LA.ND AND SUMMER-LAND. 119 

play of a fertile ideality ; but in most instances they are 
real glimpses of scenes in the Summer-Land. True, you 
might imagine a tree to be where there is no tree ; but 
your ideality obtained its first lesson from seeing a tree 
which was real. One man may be able to imagine in 
his dreams just what another man cannot imagine with- 
out first seeing. So that the one man would have an 
actual objective experience, and the other only an ideal 
subjective experience. And it is philosophical that 
there should first be an object outside to impress the 
surfaces of the mind with a correct notion of its exist- 
ence. 

Certain constituted minds go into the "superior 
state" in the natural slumber of the night, and never 
during their ordinary and waking condition. Never, 
during the day, can such minds be quiet enough. But 
at night, when all is very still, then the sensitive mind 
and soul for the first time have an opportunity to realize 
a sort of independence of material surroundings, then 
the person's spirit rises up from beneath and attains to 
a finer state of thought and feeling. This higher con- 
ception of spirit-life comes through a vision. But when 
morning comes, and the business of the world is 
resumed, the dream may not remain to cheer the weary 
heart. But if the same person should enter a corre- 
sponding state, even if it be after the lapse of weeks or 
months, the mind will instantly revert to and go on with 
the corresponding previous experience. The long time 
which may have elapsed between the two experiences, 
does not break the chain. To the spirit, years seem 
like fleeting moments; for spirit, you will remember, 

"Lives in deeds not years; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial." 



120 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

The spirit realizes no time between an experience of ten 
years ago and a corresponding experience of last night 
or to-day. 

Once I stood, while in the clairvoyant state, by the 
overwhelmed brain of a large man in an apoplectic fit. I 
examined him both physically and spiritually. I watched 
by his bedside until he recovered from the apoplexy. 
Being in clairvoyance, I saw the working of his spirit, 
and could easily understand the state of his mind. He 
had, in the midst of his sufferings, a clear and truthful 
vision of the Summer-Land ! When he recovered from 
the fit and came out of " the state," he knew nothing of 
what had happened. And I too, at that time, when I 
came out of the magnetic state, did not recollect what 
I had seen. (I remember everything now.) In the 
clairvoyant state, subsequently, I examined him a second 
time. He was then in a deep coma. I plainly saw 
what he was seeing, and might have felt what he was 
feeling. His mind was connecting the experience of 
six months previous with his present vision. He saw 
his heart's own happy companion — the loved wife who 
had gone before him — coming to welcome his spirit up 
the shining way. lie saw the beauty of her coming, 
and / saw the beauty of her coming. The doctor put 
his ear down to the sick man's mouth to catch his 
whisperings. A joyful thought tried to gain utterance 
through his paralyzed physical organs. He wanted to 
tell his vision. But in a few moments he passed into 
the World of spirit. Before he went he did not realize 
the six months which had intervened between his first 
and second vision of the silvery rivers and the scenes of 
immortal beauty. 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER- LAND. 121 

A traveler may suddenly turn a corner in a ncAV 
road and see a house and bridge before him, a few 
trees, a stream pouring through the grassy meadow and 
some farm-houses in tire distance, and, though the load 
and the country are really new to him, somehow the 
whole scene is familiar to his eyes. He knows that he 
never saw it with his physical eyes before, and yet he 
is not surprised. He is surprised only when he realizes 
that he was never in that region before. Now 1 find 
that the picture of that scene was perfectly transferred 
to the sensitive canvas of his faculties while his body 
was in a deep sleep in the night-time. While in your 
" superior state," your spirit takes on its impressions of 
distant objects and scenery. This experience has misled 
many into the hypothesis of pre-existence. 

So the life of the spirit is natural. Your spirit does 
not realize any difference in feeling, whether you are 
dreaming or in a state of wakefulness. You travel 
about in the sleep-state just the same as though you 
were awake and in open day. You visit people, you go 
into houses, you cross rivers, or take a long voyage, 
just as satisfactorily as though you had your physical 
body around you. Now this experience arises from a 
projection of your consciousness into the open world 
about you. ' This will explain the wondrous phenomena 
of the whole interior life. It may not explain the pri- 
vate double-consciousness of some persons. One mind 
may see a real tree, another mind may imagine a tree 
to be where no tree is ; but the latter is a subject of 
impression in which a tree is involved. 

Some peculiarly organized minds have the most hor- 
rible dreams. Such dreams are reflections from the 



122 WINTER-LAND AND STUMMER-LAND. 

structure and state of their minds. And there are per- 
sons who live rightly and abstemiously, who also have 
horrible dreams. Why is this? Because they have not 
yet outgrown or overcome the influences from the tem- 
peraments of their ancestors. They are representatives 
of branches of temperamental roots, which go far back 
and down in the ancestral soil. They still vibrate and' 
pulsate in the living generations. This fully accounts 
for the " night thoughts" of many who are pure and 
beautiful, and who think beautiful thoughts during the 
daytime. These same persons sometimes dream the 
most repulsive dreams. Ancestors predominate in their 
personal consciousness, and they have not will-power 
sufficient to keep down the rising hereditary impressions, 
especially during the less guarded hours of slumber. 

Already I have said something concerning the 
"battle between the spirit and its circumstances," 
showing how all may acquire the power of conquering 
the unpleasant inheritance from their ancestors. I have 
somewhat conquered the discordant temperaments of 
my ancestors. (I do not know who they remotely 
were, and I am not anxious to know.) I have a fair- 
minded, honorable father yet in this world, and I know 
that I had a true, and sweet, and beautiful, and saintly 
mother, who now resides in a celestial community. But 
there were certain hereditary influences and predispo- 
sitions which I found absolutely in my spirit's way. 
Those inheritances stood sternly up in my presence some- 
times when I wished most to be utterly quiet. When 
I would gather spiritual strength and restore my 
exhausted physical powers, then up would pome some 
hereditary "imp of darkness," who would propose to 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 123 

carry me into discordant thoughts and scenes. At such 
times I would dream that I was where strange, mur- 
derous-looking people were secreting themselves in 
dark passages, or some other equally unpleasant dream- 
ing. It has been so with some of you. You need not 
claim that you have always had harmonious, splendid, 
and attractive dreams. Human nature is organized on 
identical principles. And the action of the human 
faculties, under a given set of circumstances, is the 
same, and the experiences arising from such action is 
the same in all structures of mind. 

Some men think there is essential truth in astrology. 
Well, I once visited an astrologer, with a desire to test 
the possibilities of destiny. A distinguished professor 
described to me the influences of the several stars. He 
drew my horoscope, according to the day and hour of 
my birth, and then went on to tell when I was sick, or 
when I should have been ; that certain planets were my 
ruling stars, both for weal and for woe ; and that when 
certain planets came into conjunction with the body of 
Mars, <fec, that certain things would be likely to happen 
to me — whereupon I concluded that I would not be 
steered in my individual career by the stars, and I have 
not been. The very star that was astrologically fixed to 
rule my private destiny I forthwith put out of my house. 
I would not have a star intercepting the orbit of my 
individuality. Therefore the events that astrologically 
were to happen to me, have not occurred m the slightest 
degree. 

Thus I teach you self-possession, although I believe 
that every great soul will best succeed by steering and 
steadying himself by the stars. Keep down the disa- 



121 WINTER LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

greeable which you have received from your ancestors. 
Prune away among your roots and branches. Expel 
old discords from your minds, and you will then have 
the satisfaction of knowing that your dreams are at 
least your own. And from this starting-point you can 
go right onward to solid facts in your mental opera- 
tions. 

What is important to the speedy accomplishment of 
this result ? First of all, physiology : correct habits of 
eating, drinking, working, and resting. If you eat 
this, that, and the other thing, it will, to some extent, 
appear in your nervous force. Wrong conditions in 
your nervo-vital energies will induce your faculties to 
produce unpleasant dreams. As soon as you know what 
is obstructional, you can and ought to remove it. My 
investigations are all between six o'clock in the morn- 
ing and twelve o'clock of the day. At night I do not 
dream. I sleep then. .If there are any persons present, 
who, as witnesses, heard the lectures given in " Nature's 
Divine Revelations," they will remember that though 
three or four days might have intervened between two 
discourses, yet sometimes the first words would finish a 
sentence which perhaps was left incomplete at the end 
of the previous lecture, and the thought would be thus 
fully expressed — showing that the spirit keeps no 
account of time, but takes cognizance only of events, 
feelings, thoughts, ideas, and principles. 

Many have seen the places and the scenes which I 
have been describing. I hear mediums mention spiritual 
things and describe scenery, and I recognize them as 
things and scenes which I have seen. If a man tells 
you that he saw Central Park, and that he entered at a 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 125 

certain gate, which he truthfully describes, then you 
say, "That is true, for I have seen it myself." In like 
manner I have had convincing testimony that others 
have seen the Summer-Land. 

Auloania is the name of the island which was ages 
ago dedicated to those Greeks who steadfastly believe 
in many Gods — the polytheists. Auloania is still devoted 
to poetry, rhetoric, history, the ode, and to music. The 
winding, dancing, silvery river, which flows around this 
island, is named Sil-Miral, meaning a hymn, or an 
anthem. It sings songs like pine trees. In certain 
seasons, or under the influence of certain breezes, it 
gives off hymnal melody — rich, varied harmonies, and 
a3olian, mournful symphonies. Myriads of song-birds 
live and sing in that region, as the birds live and sing 
on earth when the warm days of spring come o'er 
mountain and plain. The birds, of highest beauty, by 
thousands enter into the asolian symphonies and mourn- 
ful melodies of the beautiful Sil-Miral. 

Vivium is the name of a golden, fountainous spring, 
on the island of Auloania. I have seen it many times. 
You will see it in some of your spiritual dreams. Put 
down the errors in the temperaments inherited from 
your ancestors. Become natural, and substantial, and 
wholly yourself. You cannot enter the " superior 
state" by any way less straight. Become healthy in 
your inmost; then you will see the Summer-Land in- 
visions of the night. You read in your religious book 
about " the Dayspring from on high," and you think it 
is a beautiful figure of speech. But I find that there is 
something corresponding to it in the fields and islands 
surrounding the house with many mansions. Suppose 



126 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

I should say that " Innocence is represented by a lamb." 
Now you read about the " Lamb of God ;" but is there 
not also an animal known as a lamb? And in like 
manner may not the fountainous Vivium — the dayspring 
on high — be something more than a mere figure of 
speech ? Has not every figurative expression a cor- 
responding literal side? 

The scenes of the Second Sphere are reflected upon 
the human mind whenever it is accessible and impressi- 
ble. It is accomplished either by our own clairvoyant 
powers to rise into sight and sympathy with them, or 
else by the artistic pencilings upon our faculties by 
those who are our invisible guardians. They either do 
it for us, or else they kindly clear the celestial way, so 
that our own impressibility may invite and secure the 
picture. 

I would now like to tell you about the Elgario, as 
they call the plant of sorrow. In the Summer-Land 
there are melancholy characters, who seem disposed to 
remember and dwell upon the exceedingly hard times 
they experienced on the earth. They look like very 
badly abused people ; were not appreciated before 
death, and are not happy. They are downcast and sad 
for a while, being indulgent of feelings of melancholy, 
like certain unfortunates in our lunatic asylums. But 
this wondrous celestial plant, which the botanists of 
that region call Elgario, is their sweet medicine and 
perfect antidote. The sad ones are led to it. They 
soon begin to inhale its fragrance. They breathe its 
atmosphere. They chew it a little every day. They 
soon know this flower is for the healing of God's heart- 
stricken children. They carry its petals and are 



WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 127 

influenced by them. The plant exerts a mystic charm. 
They make bouquets of it, and it relieves them of their 
earthborn mishaps and long-cherished sorrows. 

Is not this revelation also natural, beautiful, and 
simple? Your gifted guardian will bring the Elgario 
to you and say : " Take this, my beloved; smell of its 
holy breath ; its odor will quickly relieve your aching 
heart." Why, a homeopathic physician,. when treating 
a patient for a disease in the throat or lungs, may, 
perhaps, wish to administer phosphorus. He knows 
that the odor of phosphorus will sometimes relieve a 
^severe stricture. Thus the higher physicians hand 
forth this beautiful plant to spirits depressed with 
earth-born errors and misfortune. They give it to 
their patients, and lo ! its odor heals and translates 
them into a healthy, happy, and comparatively superior 
state. 

Thus sometimes beautiful " births" take place, — 
births out of states of confirmed despondency. A 
mother, for example, in order to feed and clothe her 
children, has been overworked. She has literally 
worked herself to death for the sake of her dependent 
family. She at l&'.t died from excessive bodily fatigue 
and heart-broken weariness. She is borne away on 
the silvery river to the Summer-Land ; but she is still 
weary! This beautiful plant is brought to her, or she 
is conducted to the garden that is filled with it. 
Gradually it lifts her into her « superior state." After 
a time she realizes somewhat of heavenly co'mfort, sweet 
and pure ; and in the flow of the ensuing seasons, she 
begins to believe that 



6* 



128 WINTER-LAND AND SUMMER-LAND. 

" There is a land of pare delight, 
Where saints immortal reign; 
Eternal day excludes the night, 
And pleasures banish pain." 

From her refreshened memory she says, " I used to 
sing that song, when I was a girl, in the Methodist 
Sunday-school, and in our Bible-class meetings. Then 
it was only words; now it is all so real." She looks 
about and sees her old neighborhood acquaintances and 
loved friends. She finds them in the " Father's house," 
where there are " many mansions." If it were not so, 
the seers would have told you. 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER- 
LAND- 



"Get but the truth once uttered, and 'tis like 
A new-born star, that drops into its place, 
And which once circling in its placid round, 
Not all the tumult of the earth can shake.'' 

The several languages called "dead" in this world, 
have certain roots which push themselves vigorously up 
through the memory-soils of the human mind and con- 
tinue to bear fruit after death. Thus the Hebrews, 
Arabians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Grecians, 
Romans, Celts, even the Scots and Picts, and various 
other smaller tribes and semi-nations, continue for a 
long time to to speak the educational language of their 
earth-life, and to cherish thoughts that flow through 
such verbiage ; and often when such spirits have sought 
to communicate with impressible or congenial persons 
on the earth, they have succeeded in controlling medi- 
ums, so that the communication would be imparted in 
their native tongue. The celebrated Professor Buchanan, 
of Cincinnati, testifies that he heard in the City of 
Cleveland, ten years ago, an uneducated American 
lady discourse finely in French. And it was reported 
that Mr. Seidell J. Finney, in the same city, and, I 



130 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

believe, on the same occasion, uttered a glorious poem 
in the Indian language, which, it was said, was per- 
fectly well understood by an Indian who chanced to be 
present. 

I know how most people feel and think with refer- 
ence to these trans-terrestrial questions — that after 
death " all is different with the individual." There 
never was a greater mistake. You might as well 
suppose that Mother-nature, and God-nature, and Man- 
nature undergo radical transmigrations and recon- 
structions. Quite otherwise. There are no essential 
changes in the plan of ultimates. The final type of 
organization, remember, is the spiritual interior of Man 
and Woman. Both reason and intuition sustain the 
doctrine of no central change after death. The Bible 
says : "As a tree falleth, so it lieth." That is, an oak 
tree does not become a peach, a birch, or a mahogany, 
the moment it falls. It is an oak tree still. Even so 
if man's body falls, in sympathy with the chemistry and 
gravitation of the physical word, the spiritual man does 
not fall with it. Only the external casing is peeled off 
and rejected, while the personal-inmost, who thought 
and spoke and acted before, goes onward, unchanged 
and individualized, to the Summer-Land. 

It is the lesson of the naturalness of the After-life, 
which the mind must fully conceive in order to realize 
that the other world is really a " home in the heavens." 
Earthlings will not be orphans or strangers there. I 
must know and recognize my acquaintances, and they 
must know and recognize me, a hundred, a thousand, a 
million years from this, yea, an eternity hence, or immor- 
tality is nothing. The cessation of leading personal 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 13l 

peculiarities and the reconstruction or abolishment of 
the essential traits of the individual organization — the 
mergement of the person at death from substantiality 
into a vapory, gauzy, ghostly inhabitant of the kingdom 
of heaven, there to dwell and sing and adore forever 
in the presence of the wifeless Trinity — is a supposition 
too absurd to occupy intelligent minds, being a concep- 
tion eminently suited to the brainless cranium of old- 
time orthodoxy. And yet there are ministers who seem 
to pride themselves upon their profound ignorance on 
this subject, saying : " It is an unlawful mystery ; it is 
supernatural." In other things those same pulpitarians 
are just as sensible as fellow-sinners in general. But 
come to this subject, and forthwith, with a slam, the 
gate of investigation is shut, and you are driven to the 
authoritarian's " faith," which they invariably present 
as the best antidote for heart-bereavements and spiritual 
prostrations. 

Now the after-existence opens before us as a con- 
tinuation of individual progression. Instead of being a 
" discrete degree," as Swedenborg describes it, it is 
seen to be another mansion, another story, in the same 
house " eternal in the heavens." The heavens are not 
remote. The earth itself is situated and rolling noise- 
lessly M in the heavens." Do you not know that it 
travels from January to July about ninety-seven millions 
of miles, and directly through " the heavens" ? Else 
how could the earth move in its path around the sun ? 
You see, therefore, that the earth itself is " in the 
neavens" ; and, reversely, that " the heavens" are about 
the earth. We float at the rate of sixty- four thousand 
miles an hour round the sun, which is not more really 



132 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

in " the heavens." Now, I affirm that the Summer- 
Land is no more " in the heavens" than is our sun or 
this earth on which we at present reside. 

The mind of man is stationed over his visceral 
organs, which are immersed in darkness within the 
physical body. But there is a constant communication 
kept up between all parts of his body and his sensorium. 
Consequently the mental person who resides in the 
upper parts of the brain is omnipresent through the 
physical organs and sensations. In like manner, the 
Second Sphere is so situated with reference to this earth, 
that we, its inhabitants, float under the constant 
inspection of its population. This earth is analogous to 
a ponderous organ in the perfect and symmetrical 
anatomy of the stars. I think you will agree that this 
planet of ours may be, in general analogy, an " organ" 
in the physiology of the sidereal system ; and that the 
celestial brain, which is the Summer-Land, caps and 
coronates all these different planets, just as the mind 
of man covers and crowns the different organs within 
the trunk. 

Earthly languages, perfected, carried out to their 
ultimates, and simplified to a flue, beautiful orthogra- 
phy, become the language of the other Sphere. But 
education still sways the mind and thoughts. Suppose 
your affections are wrapped up with expressions peculiar 
to the German language, then, on reaching the higher 
Land, your memory (which is a spiritual organ,) holds 
not the English language, nor have you attachments for 
any other save that in which you were primarily edu- 
cated. So true is this, that persons who had been in 
the habit of using " profane language," as it is called, 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 133 

find themselves over-accustomed to expressing their 
thoughts and emotions through those worthless viaducts 
and conveyances ; and such habits become serious impedi- 
ments and obstructions to progress, just as in this world, 
when the coarse, vulgar-word speakers would enter 
refined society, they meet embarrassment because they 
cannot use profane language with their customary free- 
dom. If they use it constantly among ignorant men, 
they find themselves, when among educated persons, in a 
state of nervous trepidation lest the next moment they 
may stumble into the use of an oath. When thrown a 
little off their balance, they will involuntarily show that 
they are accustomed to very improper and very disa- 
greeable words. This you know is true in this world. 

Now look into the Summer-Land, and you will find 
that the memory of many is checked when they come 
into the presence of finer and more educated organiza- 
tions. There is a tendency, even after death, to indulge 
in those mental habits in which the individual has been 
most strongly educated. Thus, the first form of speech 
is that which the person most used on earth. A friend, 
who recently died in the Union Army, took the first 
opportunity to make himself manifest, and expressed his 
thoughts in the peculiar language which he had been 
accustomed to use all the years before he went. 
Although he was situated in finer circumstances, and 
influenced by the example of finer associates, still his 
thoughts flowed along in their accustomed channels 
of conversation. His thoughts were finer and higher ; 
but they came down through the old verbiage. 

The second language used in the higher world is the 
language of Music. The spirit of this language is sepa- 



134 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

rated from the educational tendencies of the different 
races. The language of Music is employed in the teach- 
ing of what we call " Science." The truths of science, 
the beauties of science, and very high and glorious les- 
sons in celestial principles, are communicated by means 
of symphonies, melodies, songs, hymns, anthems, and 
chants. Hence the impression that heaven is a place of 
eternal song! This wondrous music tills the whole 
heavens and awakens echoes among the distant planets; 
so that, when the stars are touched and summoned to 
enter the orchestra and make the magnificent chorus 
full, then the very earth itself seems to vibrate respon- 
sively to that grand harmonious beat, which converts 
the universe into a harp of infinite perfection ! 

The third language used in the higher world is 
what we here call " the language of the Heart." It is, 
more properly speaking, the language of emanation. 
Every private affection throws out an atmosphere. 
Whatever your predominating love may be, it emits an 
atmosphere which winds itself about your person. And 
when the temperament is fine, sensitive, and susceptible, 
the odor and influence will correspond. If the indi- 
vidual is the victim of an inverted love — a love turned 
out of its pure, native channel — he throws out upon you 
a coarse, vicious atmosphere, which in these days is 
called a " magnetic influence." Mediums, sensitives, and 
clairvoyants see it, and many persons not so gifted, feel 
it, and they know not whence or why. "That perso 
gives off a peculiar influence," you say ; " I feel it." It 
depresses you ; or, it makes you angry. Another per- 
son makes you feel "cheerful" and "happy" and "joy- 
ous;" and you are physically quieted or spiritually 



: 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 135 

aroused by mere contact with these more exalted cha- 
racters. 

In the Summer-Land this " language of the heart" 
is carried to an inconceivable degree of perfection. For 
instance, suppose you and your brother, or you and 
your sister, should meet — you who have not met for 
long, lonely years. If you have outgrown the necessity 
of external speech, and if you have been taught through 
the mysterious suggestiveness of pure Music, you then 
deepen into the language of impersonal and perfect 
Love ! In the higher Spheres such language is alone the 
medium of communication. It is the language of abso- 
lute contact of personal love-atmospheres ; by which is 
meant that two persons, meeting face to face, meet also 
heart to heart, and are forever friends. On earth it is 
but the hands, or eyes, or lips, that touch and speak. 
There, it is the indescribably sweet and perfect meeting 
of soul with soul. They thus inhale and thoroughly 
understand each other. For the first time there sweeps 
through the gladdened heart the eminent satisfaction 
of receiving perfect appreciation through the deathless 
wisdom of a brother, a sister, or a companion. Your 
most secret history is wordlessly told and forever 
known ; the details of your earth-life appreciated, and 
with all their innumerable bearings upon the shape of 
your character ; and so, too, are comprehended all the 
steps that have brought you to that position in the upper 
existence ; so that the " communion" which takes place 
at that time extends through all the years, days, hours, 
events, and moments of your terrestrial pilgrimage. 
The delightfulness of this conjunction constitutes the 
beautiful, glorious happiness which diversifies, gladdens, 
and exalts the inhabitants of the Spheres. 



136 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER- LAND. 

This interior, unspeakable language, is sometimes 
called "the language of Communion" — the unutterable 
speech of the immortals — which poets try in vain to 
reach and express; which Music, with its unsearchable 
attributes and great powers, very nearly approaches. 
When your love is warmest and deepest, when you meet 
it in another, or when it meets you, then you catch the 
rudiments of this infinitely finer, this inexpressibly 
beautiful, this trans-mundane, this celestial, this heart- 
emanational conversation, which is so divinely-blissful, 
so spiritually-refreshing, and so exalting to all who 
dwell under its blessings in the Summer-Land. Let it 
be once more affirmed that words are not the most elo- 
quent expressions of the Soul. There is no joy so intense 
as that which sparkles in the eye and crimsons the 
cheek, yet refuses the aid of the voice ; there is also 
" no grief like that which does not speak." Where the 
heart has a tale to tell, how poor are the utterances of 
the lips ! Need we these ever to tell us that we are 
loved ? Is there not something in arbitrary signs that 
breaks the spell of our sweetest feelings ? There is a 
mental electricity more mysterious far than the subtile 
fluid that thrills through material substances. Its con- 
ductors are the soft light of the human eye, the smile 
of the human lip, the tone of a subdued and earnest 
voice. Pleasant, indeed, is the solitude that is broken 
only by this silent speech. 

Concerning Traveling in the Summer-Land. Travel- 
ing there is, at first, just what it is here. Arrived, we 
use our legs and feet ; we see with our eyes ; hear with 
our ears ; and we also touch, and smell, and taste 
things, just as the very young child does on being intro- 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 137 

duced into this world. The mind of every one is 
interested at first in what is most external, and yet, 
what is called "external" there, is here even too deep 
for mankind's comprehension at the present time. When 
arrived there, you find yourself in possession of higher j 
senses, in every respect similar to these, and with the 
same attributes and faculties, only more susceptible, and 
with the essential habits and inclinations of your cha- 
racter even more active. These all begin to call for their 
complete gratification. They lead you along the vernal 
margins of musical waters, or you traverse different beau- 
tiful fields, or away you go on attractive excursions — all 
in accordance with the most powerful necessities of the 
ever-active, never-dying, always youthful spirit. Now 
and then you meet persons who are still laboring with 
the effects of an earthly sadness. These undeveloped 
souls remain with organizations, or become members of 
Brotherhoods who have not yet arisen out of the 
depressions of terrestrial mishaps and imperfections. 
Every one goes to appropriate and congenial places. 

Let your mind be duly impressed with the fact that 
" great minds," so called while on earth, often lose 
what was considered the properties of their great 
"reputation." It is instantly stripped off from some 
>f them, and they are not known, named, nor bowed to 
is " distinguished persons." Great men, so styled on 
earth, are of no consequence in the Summer-Land; 
neither king nor queen, nor prince nor princess, are 
known as such ; for all go there clad in their true 
peri-spherical garments, and not in the costly habili- 
ments you procure at Stewart's. When arrived, you 
will appear dressed and adorned, plainly or otherwise, 



138 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

in rigid accordance with your internal nature and 
status. Thus Henry Clay, when he reported himself in 
the city of New York more than ten years ago, said 
that his " great earthly (political) attainments had not 
availed him much." This distinguished American gavo 
a message to a number of personal friends. His com- 
munication, which was perfectly verified at the time, 
shows the mental condition in which the statesman 
found himself soon after his arrival. 

HENRY CLAY'S MESSAGE TO A NUMBER OF FRIENDS. 

In July, 1852, the following, with much more of 
high significance, was delivered : " My worldly wisdom 
availed me not when my new life commenced. It is 
very beautiful to become a little child again ; and now 
I understand the meaning of the words: 'Ye must be 
born again ;' and in true sincerity and gratefulness I 
feel that I am born again — in a life where the vanities 
of earth have faded from my view, and the bright glo- 
ries of heaven are opening upon my soul. 

" soul made pure, be thankful for thy high estate, 
and adore thy God who hath endowed thine eyes with 
light, and thy soul with the ability to enjoy the pure 
beauties which crowd upon thy new existence I And yet 
how I am overwhelmed with the foreshadowing of the 
glory which is yet-in wait lor me ! But now a form of 
brightness appears, and saith unto me: ' As thy day is, 
so shall thy strength increase ; and thou shalt grow and 
wax stronger in the stature of wisdom and the might 
of love.' 

"I am surrounded by those who are, like myself, 
exploring the wonders of this heavenly land. The 
realities become more and more transcendently sublime 
as we proceed. And the beauties of knowledge are 
increasingly unfolded; more vast and commanding 
becomes the wide-spread plain of glory, as we travel 
on in our heavenly path, guided by wisdom supreme 
and love unbounded." 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 139 

The mind is « overwhelmed," as Henry Clay- 
expresses it, with the unexpected naturalness of the 
post-mortem existence. Persons- who read this, I think, 
will not be as much astonished as was the "Sage of 
Ashland, 51 who ascended from the Old Kentucky State. 
He was not " astonished" in the Halls of Congress at 
Washington — he could easily grasp the great rising 
propositions before the Government of his country — but 
when he entered another mansion in the Father's house 
" not made with hands," then he became as " a little 
child, guided by wisdom and love." 

Persons sometimes change their views rapidly, and 
they hasten to return, saying that they have experienced 
a " change" in their convictions. Dr. Emmons, who 
was a preacher of the old-school doctrine of eternal 
punishment, comes back after having thoroughly investi- 
gated the geography and government of the Summer- 
Land, saying that there is no place hot enough to suit 
his sermons. 

A MESSAGE FROM DR. EMMONS, IN BOSTON, 1851. 
" You of the earth may pretend and think you 
believe ever so strongly in eternal punishment; but 
when you bring it home to your own hearts, and those 
you love, the strongest terms you dare to use are : ' We 
leave them in God's hands. He doeth all things well!' 
Yea, verily, I respond to that with all my spirit 
powers — ' God doeth all things well ! 5 Amen and 
amen forever ! saith the spirit of Dr. Emmons. Does 
not that very remark imply a doubt in the minds of 
those that thus speak ? You could not better express 
your doubts, if you would ; your firmest, strongest 
believer in eternal punishment, dare not say of the one 
he loved : He or she hath gone to hell ! In plain words 
let us speak ; for you that believe it may not shrink 



14:0 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMED LAND. 

from speaking it. I was one of the old-school, a strong, 
1)0 Id preacher of the doctrine of eternal punishment ; 
would that those sermons were buried in oblivion ! 
They are a curse to the world, a dishonor to the memory 
of him who could believe or utter such sentiments, a 
libel on the character of a just and holy God. And 
yet, as my spirit returns to the friends and scenes of 
my earthly days, often do I hear the words I uttered in 
life brought forth as the faith of a good old man ; and 
by those, too, who cherish my name and memory with 
almost holy reverence. I long to make my voice heard 
in tones of thunder, that they may know the truth, and 
not grope in darkness longer." 

Again, the celebrated American author, J. Fennt- 
more Cooper, in the year 1850, gained access to an 
elderly gentleman in Western New York, and reported 
in brief as follows : 

" I little thought, when, a few months ago, I was 
investigating the developments that were interesting 
some of my acquaintances, that I should so soon be 
seeking an opportunity to make my identity manifest. 
I was astonished at what I then witnessed, and was 
afraid to investigate, lest I should find true what others 
said, and what had been so marvelous to me, because I 
dreaded the scorn of those whose good opinion I valued. 
Hence, you see, I was not well prepared lor a high 
mansion in the spirit-life; for I felt ashamed to seek 
the truth wherever it might be found, and such cowards 
are not fitted for high enjoyments in the Spirit-World. 
Yet I was introduced into a state far better than I 
deserved, for which I feel thankful ; and that feeling 
of gratitude, as it is cultivated, 1 feel advances me." 

Some spirits report themselves as they were, or as 
they appeared just before death, in order to satisfy their 
remaining relatives that they are still in existence, and 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 141 

that death was not the extinguishment of their person- 
ality. A remarkable case is reported by Professor 
Brittan, eleven years ago, showing how entirely simple, 
yet terribly impressive, is the method which some 
departed ones adopt, to cause their identity to be fully 
known to acquaintances who yet live in the body. 

CASE OF IDENTIFICATION. 
Mr. S. B. Brittan, in the year 1852, put on record 
the following: 

"Last winter, while spending a few days at the 
house of Mr. Rufus Elmer, Springfield, Mass., I became 

acquainted with Mr. H. , a medium. One evening 

H , Mr. and Mrs. Elmer, and myself, were engaged 

in general conversation, when — in a moment and most 

unexpectedly to us all — H was deeply entranced. 

A momentary silence ensued, when the medium said: 

'Haunah B is here.' I was surprised at the 

announcement; for I had not even thought of the per- 
son indicated for many days, perhaps weeks or months, 
and we parted for all time when I was but a little 
child: I remained silent ; but mentally inquired how 
I might be assured of the actual presence. Immediately 
the medium began to exhibit signs of the deepest anguish. 
Rising from his seat, he walked to and fro in the apart- 
ment, wringing his hands, and exhibiting a wild and 
frantic manner and expression.* He groaned in spirit, 
and audibly, and often smote his forehead and uttered 
incoherent words of prayer. He addressed men in 
terms of tenderness, and sighed, and uttered bitter 
lamentations. Ever and anon he gave utterance to 
expressions like the following: 

« ' Oh, how dark ! What dismal clouds ! What a 
frightful chasm! Deep — down — far down — 1 see the 
fiery flood! Hold!. Stay ! — Save them from the pit! 
I'm in a terrible labyrinth! I see no way out! 
There's no lii^ht! How wild! — g-loomv ! The clouds 



142 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER LAND. 

roll in upon me ! The darkness deepens ! My head is 
whirling ! Where am I V 

"During this exciting scene, which lasted perhaps 
half an hour, I remained a silent spectator, the medium 
was unconscious, and the whole was inexplicable to Mr. 
and Mrs. Elmer. The circumstances occurred some twelve 
years before the birth of the medium. No person in all 
that region knew aught of the history of Hannah 

B , or that such a person ever existed. But to me 

the scene was one of peculiar and painful significance. 
The person referred to was highly gifted by Nature, 
and endowed with the tenderest sensibilities. She 
became insane from believing in the doctrine of endless 
punishment, and when I last saw her, the terrible 
reality, so graphically depicted in the scene I have 
attempted to describe, was present, in all its mournful 
details before me." 

Now, the testimony of Professor Brittan would 
probably be taken as unquestionable and trustworthy 
on any other subject, and perhaps at this late day his 
word will also be accepted in this direction. In the 
whole realm of psychology, or of sympathy of mind with 
mind, there is no known law that will explain the 
effects he delineates. But those who have held commu- 
nication with the Summer-Land, find that those who 
still earnestly desire to communicate, take the first 
opportunities to stamp the impression which would pro- 
duce the strongest conviction of personal identity upon 
the remaining relative or friend. I suppose there are 
two thousand instances, all of them substantiated so far 
as human testimony can go, showing that spirit-com- 
munications are " literal facts'' recorded in history 
beyond the possibility of refutation. 

Some minds who on earth were intellectually inter- 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 143 

ested in " Ideas," on entering the Second Sphere, begin 
to communicate, as soon as possible, to impressible per- 
sons remaining, the fact that, in their cogitations, they 
had conceived of something like what they now behold, 
and that they are so glad to find that the realities of 
the higher life are even more gratifying than they had 
dared to expect. To illustrate this point, I refer you 
to the testimony of Margaret Fuller, given in 1852 — a 
year remarkable for the outpouring of this peculiar 
description of communications : 

TESTIMONY OF MARGARET FULLER, OTHERWISE 
COUNTESS OSSOLI, DEC. 5, 1852. 

" My sojourn on earth seems now as an indistinct 
dream, in comparison with the real life which I now 
enjoy. And I regard the raging of the elements which 
freed my dearest kindred and myself from our earthly 
bodies, as the means of opening to us the portals of 
immortality. And we behold that we were born 
again — born out of the flesh into the spirit. How sur- 
prised and overjoyed was I when I saw my new condi- 
tion ! The change was so sudden — so glorious — from 
mortality to immortality — that at first I was unable to 
comprehend it. From the dark waves of the ocean — 
cold, and overcome with fatigue and terror — I emerged 
into a sphere of beauty and loveliness. How differently 
everything appeared! What an air of calmness and 
repose surrounded me ! How transparent and pure 
seemed the sky of living blue! And how delightfully 
I inhaled the pure, life-giving atmosphere! A dim- 
ming mist seemed to have fallen from my eyes — so calm 
and so beautiful in their perfection were all things 
which met my view. And then kind and loving friends 
approached me, with gentle words and sweet affection; 
and oh, I said within my soul, surely heaven is more 
truly the reality of loveliness than it was ever conceived 
to be by the most loving hearts! Already are my 
1 



144 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

highest earthly impressions of beauty and happiness 
more than realized." 

Here you remark a vivid contrast between this 
communication of Margaret Ossoli's and that reported 
by Professor Brittan. In Margaret you see a mind 
retaining its characteristics in the transcendentally ideal. 
She reports the intense gratification which came over 
her idealizing faculties immediately on her introduction 
to the Better Land. But the other lady came back pur- 
posely to impress upon Mr. Brittan's thoughts and feel- 
ings the fact of her presence — not through ideality, but 
through the frightful gesticulations and paroxysms of a 
pain fully-remembered insanity. 

Traveling in the post-mortem Sphere is at first just 
like pilgrimizing on earth. But the higher inhabitants 
have acquired what we shall never be able perfectly to 
imitate in this world. They have the power, without 
wings, to rise up and put themselves iu harmony with 
the currents that sweep through the atmospheric spaces. 
With the spread of light they ride on those currents 
millions and trillions of miles. It is accomplished by 
the marvelous power of inherent Will. The ability of 
the will to check the pulse is a promise of ultimate 
achievements. It is possible to develop and educate this 
inherent power of Will. By it, in this world, we lift 
our heavy bodies from beds or chairs, and cause them 
to move on the ground through low space.. It is a men- 



tal power holding insensate muscles to its rule. This 
executive energy of the arisen human spirit, instead of 
•wings, is the secret of its lightning flight. I do not say 
that spirits travel by a continuous exertion of the will. 
They seek the upper currents by will, somewhat like 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 145 

the balloon excursion which occurred some few years 
since between St. Louis and the northern part of this 
State. Professor Wise speaks positively of the exist- 
ence of an unvariable current, and thinks that if the 
venturesome aeronaut could strike it, he would be rapidly 
and safely carried from west to east. His first experi- 
ment was a failure, as all first experiments usually are; 
but it sufficiently illustrates what is the universal method 
of traveling in the Summer-Land, when they depart on 
their far-away excursions. They gain that particular 
current which sweeps away through the spaces between 
the orbits of the planets, and which takes them " with 
the celerity of thought" to the destination which they 
desire to reach, however remote it may be from their 
point of departure. 

We shall not obtain that method in this life, save by 
uncertain balloons. We see the lesson and the example 
in birds. But that is done by a direct exertion of the 
will, and by sympathetic contact of their swift-moving 
wings with the electricity of the air — part float devel- 
oped by friction, and part momentum developed by Will. 
Just as a message of intelligence can be sent through 
space by vibrating the telegraphic current over thou- 
sands of miles, so the spirit-body and Will can, by the 
vibration of the celestial rivers which flow between the 
Summer-Land and the different planets, mount and float 
and ride upon them with inconceivable speed, and gain 
.any desired destination. Traveling there is social. 

In the New Testament you read with wonderment 
and with longing the report of the Pentecostal expe- 
riences. How could such things be unless there were 
spirits invisible, who gathered as in convention, and, 



146 LANGUAGE AM) LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

by one united effort, baptized with sublime zeal whole 
congregations of Spiritualists in Syria, in Palestine, in 
Rome, or wherever the upper Pentecostalians happened 
to be in contact with the lower assemblages of sympa- 
thizing and impressible minds. The spiritualistic con- 
gregations of the old time were supposed to be baptized 
by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from the great 
Jehovah himself. That was the shortest explanation 
furnished by the converted Pharisees. They always 
furnished the most literal explanation of spiritual phe- 
nomena. Thus Moses imagined that he never could 
be visited by any power less exalted than the great 
Creator himself. That was the Hebrew mistake. Many 
of them have not yet unlearned the error in this world; 
and some in the Summer-Land have not changed their 
sentiments. But the truth is, that a combination of 
minds, just like ourselves, coming in contact with earthly 
congregations, pour out the spirit of real love, uplifting, 
elevating, giving inward gladness and unity of feeling 
" in the bonds of peace." 

By permanent magnets I sometimes illustrate the 
law that spirits impart communications with whom they 
can enter into direct contact, and with none others. 
Hence some have passed all the way through life with- 
out receiving a single evidence that any such tiling as 
a spirit exists; while others have felt it and known it 
from their earliest recollections. I well know that there 
aie minds who have not felt the blissful influence of 
such spiritual contact, and of course, have no evidence 
whatever of the truth of these things. And yet such 
persons are many times helped and saved by proxies. 
Guardians cannot reach them, save through the agency 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 147 

of other parties— a succession of intermediates — the way 

a great variety of special providences come to pass. As 

an example, I give the case of an African woman, to 

show that the benevolent in the beautiful Brotherhoods 

of heaven still watch over the lowly and unhappy of 

earth : 

HOW A FAMISHING AFRICAN WOMAN AND CHILD 
WERE SAVED BY THEIR GUARDIANS. 

The case is cited from the Moral Instructor of 1850. 
It exhibits interposition, sympathy, and calculation, to 
a remarkable extent : " A lady medium in this city, 
whose name we are not at liberty to pronounce, while 
walking in the streets, in her usual physical and mental 
mood, was approached and controlled by a spirit, caused 
to enter a bakery and purchase some victuals, thence led 
out of the city by a circuitous route into the suburbs, 
where she met a colored woman sitting by the roadside, 
weeping, with a small child by her side. She was 
traveling to find friends, and, destitute and exhausted, 
she had sunk despondingly down to bewail her condi- 
tion. Using the organ of the medium, the spirit said 
to the sufferer : « Sister, why weepest thou V The reply, 
in substance, was, that she was away from friends, and 
had no means of procuring food for her famishing child 
■ — making no mention of her own privations. She said 
she had knocked at the doors of those who appeared 
abundantly able to bless, but had been refused even the 
morsels that fell from their tables, and now despaired 
of succor. The spirit then gave her the bread, telling 
her that her afflictions were known, and that he was an 
angel sent to minister to her wants. Overjoyed, the 
poor woman fell upon her knees, essaying to offer the 
spirit a prayer of thanksgiving. But he said : i Thank 
not me, but God that sent me." 

"The medium was then conducted home, having 
been unconscious during most of the transaction, and 
retaining only an indistinct recollection of the bakery, 



14:3 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMEE-LAND. 

one or two points in her road, and the meeting with 
the woman." 

Many a man has been saved from committing sui- 
cide, by. his guardians, by the intermediate method of 
approach. Why are not all men saved from their 
temptations and indiscretions? Because they can be 
neither directly nor intermediately reached. Of neces- 
sity all such must walk through great agony to a higher 
intellectual and moral condition. It is the impulse of 
their inward being. Guardian angels see that it is 
better for some children to fall down a whole flight of 
stairs than to be rescued; for the one sad accident or 
stumble may save them from the misfortune of forty 
other worse falls and blunders in the course of their 
lives. The saving and protecting arms are not thrown 
around some gentle natures simply because there is no 
contact. But what a beautiful law and system of 
providences are sometimes displayed! Here is an 
example : 

A MAN SAVED FROM SUICIDE BY THE INTERPOSITION 
OF HIS GUARDIANS. 

The following authentic case was reported by a 
New Haven gentleman, in 1852: "Many years ago a 
couple of gentlemen, who were room-mates, graduated 
at Yale College, and became ministers of the gospel. 
At an after period they settled in the ministry in dif- 
ferent States, and carried on a friendly epistolary cor- 
respondence during a large portion of their lives. One 
of them was in the habit of receiving impressions upon 
his mind of that vivid character which usually con- 
strained him to comply with the dictate of the moment, 
or suffer loss touching his wonted peace. And though 
he was seldom able to divine in advance what the result 
of his compliance would be, he was always obedient to 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 14:9 

the dictate, and afterward saw clearly that he had only 
done what duty or interest would have demanded. 

" Among the many occasions upon which he was 
called to act in obedience to this higher power, the fol- 
lowing is singular and instructive, and shows, in the 
language of Cowper, after he had been foiled twice on 
the same day in his attempts at self-destruction, that 
' God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to per- 
form' — that he accomplishes his purposes by ways and 
means unthought of by man. A vivid impression came 
over his mind that he must, without delay, get upon the 
back of his horse, and with all possible speed reach New 
Haven, a place which he had not seen since he left col- 
lege, and one that was many miles distant. As had 
been his custom, he was obedient to the impulse, and 
reached the place at the midnight hour of a dark night; 
and finding it greatly altered from what he had ever 
before seen it, and not descrying any suitable place to 
stop at, he was induced to ride to the door of a small 
house, in which he discovered a dim light at the attic 
window. After knocking and waiting a considerable 
length of time, he heard footsteps upon the stairway 
advancing slowly; soon it opened, and a man with a 
lamp in his hand, and with a stern countenance, and 
corresponding voice, demanded : ' What do you want 
here at this unseasonable hour of the night V The 
messenger of life, as he proved to be, replied : ' I can 
scarcely inform you what I came for; I am a stranger 
here ;' after which a short pause ensued, and the man 
with the lamp, in low aud quivering accents, said: <I 
will tell you what you came for — it was to prevent me 
from committing the atrocious act of suicide! When 
you knocked at this door, I was putting a rope around 
my neck to hang myself! Your knock broke the spell 
and I have now neither desire nor power to destroy 
my life. 5 " 

Do you not read in the Testament that Saul, mounted 
on his horse and at the head of a vast army, was bent 



150 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

upon persecuting the Spiritualists of that day ? He was 
determined to ride them down and then exterminate 
them. When he had very nearly reached the point 
where the desperate conflict was to occur, the « scales 1 ' 
began falling from his eyes, and he tumbled from his 
horse to the ground. He was taken away by some friends, 
and remained in an unconscious condition for some 
time. When he came to " himself," he was a convert 
to Spiritualism. He felt ashamed, and said he had 
been entirely in the wrong— a short-sighted old sinner. 
Now what is the difference between a modern Spiritual 
case, put in modern language, and this ancient case 
related in the New Testament ? The law is identical. 
A combination of truth-lovers in the Spirit-Land, who 
are loyal to the Divine principles that regulate the uni- 
verse, directly accomplish these results which men call 
"special providences." The facts of the overthrow and 
rapid conversion of Paul are no more "mysterious," 
when analyzed in the light of modern Spiritualism, than 
was the modern transaction of saving the lone man from 
suicide. Neither can you say that the New Testament 
facts are better substantiated by witnesses than are the 
analogous facts of to-day. Here is another instance of 
special impression : 

AN ENGINEER IMPRESSED BY HIS GUARDIANS. 

The following statement was published in the Cale- 
donian, January, 1853, and is, therefore, testimony from 
an editor not committed to Spiritualism : " Mr. Butter- 
field, who was killed by the late unfortunate accident 
upon the Passumpsic Railroad, for a week or two before 
it occurred seemed impressed with the idea of some 
impending evil. He mentioned his impression to his 
friends, appeared downcast, and did not wish to run an 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 151 

engine any more. Indeed, he had gone so far as to say 
that after that week he should leave the place he occu- 
pied on the road. He was ready to do anything else 
but to act as an engineer. In passing up a few days 
previous to that on which the accident took place, before 
it was daylight, he whistled for the train to 'break up,' 
insisting that the fireman should go forward and examine 
the track; for he plainly saw the figure of a man moving 
slowly along. He also stopped at another, and about 
the same time, believing there was a man on the track. 
It turned out in both cases to be an illusion. If Mr. B. 
had been a timid and nervous man, these impressions 
would readily be accounted for, perhaps; but he was 
just the contrary — cheerful, cool, deliberate, and fear- 
less — so far even as to be remarkable for these quali- 
ties. His impressions, viewed in connection with his 
well-known character and melancholy end, are certainly 
mysterious, and we do not know how they are to be 
accounted for, unless it be that evil is sometimes por- 
tended to man by a superior intelligence." 

Spiritualists, instead of rejecting the Bible, find in 
its pages experiences that are identical with what in 
these days has become well-nigh universal. In the 
Apocalypse of John you read marvelous descriptions of 
events and awful things which would happen if there 
was a fair chance for such occurrences. Instead, why 
not take up some of the equally wonderful visions of 
Judge Edmonds? Why not read them and believe in 
them with the same unprejudiced eye and heart? If you 
look believingly back to Daniel or to Ezekiel to find 
prophecies, and if you next search the New Testament 
to find their fulfillments, why not also go faithfully back 
eight or ten years ago and find whether it be not true 
that Judge Edmonds had a vision in which the present 

American Rebellion was predicted and depicted with 

7* 



152 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER- LAND. 

wonderful clearness and exactness ? He gave it out 
with the conviction that it was simply a picturesque 
representation of the great battle between Error and 
Truth. But when it is read in connection with the 
current political history and experiences of to-day, it 
will appear as literal a prophecy of what has occurred, 
and is occurring in this country, as anything prophetic- 
al within the lids of Testaments: 

THE AMERICAN REBELLION FORETOLD IN A VISION 
BY JUDGE EDMONDS. 

In the New York Harmonial Advocate, published 
ten years ago, vol. 1., we find the following: "A 
vast plain is spread out before me, and far in the dis- 
tance a crowd of human beings. Above them is a vast 
banner, outspread all over them. Its groundwork is 
black, and its letters still blacker— the extract of black- 
ness itself. The words inscribed upon it are : ' Super- 
stition, Slavery, Crime," 1 forming, as it were, a half- 
circle. Many of those beings have smaller banners of 
the same material and device, which they hug closely to 
their bosoms, as if part of their very life. All have 
dark shades over their eyes. It is a sad picture — dark 
and melancholy ! 

" A broad battle-field is being spread. And dark 
beings, with their black banners, are coining out, arrayed 
for battle with brighter ones. The contest will be fearful. 
Those dark ones are confident in their numbers ; for 
they are as a thousand to one. 

" But see ! there comes from that bright mountain a 
herald of light, and he cries aloud through all the 
nations, i Which shall conquer — Truth, Liberty, and 
Progression, or Superstition, Slavery, and Crime ? His 
words are heralded in the air. How beautiful are his 
looks ! He is a spirit of light. His thrilling tones 
infuse new light into the brighter ones, and they rise 
with renewed energy, determined at last to conquer. 



LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 153 

" It is a mighty contest, and is to determine the fate 
of nations. All the base passions that have degraded 
humanity are awakening in their might, and rush on in 
their fury, battling for their very existence. 

" A more brilliant beam of light shines from the 
faces of the progressed ones, showing the light and the 
life that are within them, and that are cheering them to 
the contest. 

" Now, lo ! the view opens beyond the dark mount- 
ains, and behold there a glorious scene, where Love, 
Truth, and Wisdom are enthroned. I see the beautiful 
landscapes, dewy lawns, winding rivers, and rich pas- 
tures, and an atmosphere so sweet and balmy, that the 
spirit might dissolve itself in its loveliness. A race of 
spiritual beings inhabit there. An unearthly radiance 
flows from the brain of each, and is wafted up by unseen 
zephyrs to make the glorious light which shines from 
behind the dark mountains. 

" It is the home of Liberty, Truth, and Progression, 
and has sent forth its spirits, holding up that glorious 
banner. It is upheld by their unseen hands, and it is 
their brilliancy which casts the radiance on the inhabit- 
ants below. From that beautiful place they send forth 
spirits that whisper, in voiceless tones, encouragement 
and hope to those who battle in that strife." 

You will find nothing in the pages of Scripture, I 
repeat, more exactly descriptive of events which have 
occurred years after the vision was given to the world. 
But this is only one of live hundred prophecies, many 
of which are in my possession, sent for publication from 
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois, and from different 
parts of New England. I know a gentleman who had 
rejected Spiritualism in toto — over five years ago — in 
consequence of these extravagant prophecies that there 
would be " a great war in this country," that " blood 
would flow," that the people " v^ould have diseases," 



154 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

and that the " Government was to be broken," &c, &c. 
Prophetic communications of this strange character 
came to him very frequently. But the gentleman could 
not believe that we were to have "a war," in this 
peaceful country. He denounced the communications 
as unprofitable, and he would not further receive them. 
I met that gentleman not long since in this city, and he 
said : " I have repented. Those extravagant spiritual 
communications have all been literally fulfilled. There 
was no exaggeration in them." 

A MOTHER IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 
The gifted poetess, Mrs. Hemans, communicated, 
December 25, 1852, a picturesque account of scenes in 
the social life of the angels. The following is a brief 
extract concerning a mother and her child : " How 
lovely she seems ! As she glides along, she holds in her 
arms an innoeent babe. What holy affection and 
chastened love is expressed in her countenance ! She 
pauses and speaks, and caresses her babe, and says : 
' spirit, I have left my home on earth, and I have met 
my beloved babe already, and how joyful I am. But 
will you not send back to earth and tell my dearly 
loved friends how happy I am, and how useless is all 
their weeping for me ? Oh, tell them I am learning 
the ways of peace and happiness ; that I am preparing 
to receive and instruct them when they shall arrive 
here; that, although a mother's form has left the earth, 
a mother's love still shares all their hopes and joys. 
And oh ! bid them be hopeful and seek to have the love'l 
of God shed abroad in their hearts on earth, that I may 
be able to approach them on their entrance into the 
Spirit -World.' Happy, happy mother! bearing her 
babe in her arms, who had been brought to meet and 
comfort her on her upward journey. But mark how 
she pauses to send back a word of encouragement and 
hope to those who are left behind." 



- LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 155 

On another point she says : " The spirit, on enter- 
ing its next state, only becomes more awake — more 
sensitive to the realities which lie beyond its view ; it 
but steps on another round of the ladder, which leads 
upward and onward to spheres of eternal love and 
unfolding wisdom. And by thy life here, man, dost 
thou make thy heaven fair and lovely, or thy existence 
dark and gloomy, until thou hast overcome thy errors 
by earnest labor." 

In conclusion, I wish to call your attention to 
persons in the Spirit- World who take great interest 
in exciting the hopes of humanity, and in holding up 
the banner of Progress and Reform. I have already 
given accounts of these public-spirited societies. I 
will give one out of hundreds of instances, of a com- 
munication to minds on earth, who were at the time 
somewhat despairing : 

TESTIMONY IN FAVOR OF FREEDOM. 

In November, 1852, Judge Edmonds reported tho 
following from the Summer-Land : " This is the day 
when Freedom shall be known among the sons of 
humanity. This is the day when the chains shall fall 
from the oppressed spirit. This is the day when the 
pulse of humanity shall quicken with an- inward life. 
And now shall the arm of man be made strong. Now 
shall the stream of truth brighten and deepen in its 
flow. Now shall the light of heaven grow clearer and 
brighter amid this glorious dawning. Prepare ye for 
the resurrection of humanity. Stand ye up in the 
strength and majesty of spiritual manhood. Let the 
scenes of earth no longer enthrall your senses and 
deaden the soul. A voice calls you to a higher des- 
tiny. It is the voice of Freedom breaking from the 
skies. Listen! not with your ears only, but with your 
souls. Listen ! And in the deep silence of your inner 



156 LANGUAGE AND LIFE IN THE SUMMER LAND. 

being may ye find its earnest whisperings to lead you 
up beyond the vale of darkness, beyond the tumults of 
this lower sphere—to lead you up — up — far up in the 
pathway of unfolded angels, and give you strength to 
mount on high, as the eagle soars, to breathe the air 
of Freedom forever and ever." 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL 
WORKERS. 



" This world is not a fleeting show, 
For man's illusion given ; 
He that hath soothed a widow's woe, 

Or wiped an orphan's tear, doth know 
There's something here of heaven." 

In relation to this subject it is deemed necessary to 
set forth three propositions : 

First, that the material and spiritual universes are 
regulated by immutable laws. Law is the external 
manifestation of principle; a principle is the external 
manifestation of an idea ; an idea is the thoughtful, 
loveful life of Deity. 

Second, that man is endowed with a self-conscious 
power called Reason ; Reason is the harmony of all his 
faculties, including the elements of affection and intui- 
tion ; by the exercise of this power he discovers the 
laws by which those universes are kept in unvarying 
order and irreversible harmony. 

Third, that he is endowed with abilities and attri- 
butes to apply his discoveries to all the common condi- 
tions from which he proceeds, and of which he naturally 
is the governor and supreme head. 

The Infinite fountain is composed of ideas. Nothing 
could be more abstruse, more metaphysical and abstract, 
than the truth which is hidden within this statement. 



153 MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

Most persons use the word "idea" according to the 
dictionary sense. An idea, in popular definition, is the 
form or conception or image in the mind of anything 
which you read about, or which you are thinking, or of 
something which is being related to you. To catch 
" an idea" is to get a definition of whatever may be 
presented for your reflection. That is not the sense in 
which the term is used in this discourse. The common 
definition is applicable to " thought." A thought in 
the mind is derived from a description, or by means of 
an object, a sound, a flavor, an odor ; in short, whatever 
may address you, through your senses, will evolve a 
thought among your faculties, and if that thought is 
coincident with and exactly representative of that which 
excited it, the result is a truth, or else a fact. From an 
accumulation of such facts and truths all positive sciences 
are developed and established. 

But such truths and such facts are not Ideas. If you 
have an idea, you have the essential life out of which 
all things and thoughts spring. Clairvoyance is the 
ability to discern things afar off by coming in contact 
with the life of things, realizing their inherent essences, 
becoming instantly acquainted with the intelligent 
principles by which things roll out from unfathomable 
depths into the phenomenal universe. An idea within 
vegetation causes all this variety, not only of the form 
and growth, but also of the distribution of the colors 
and of the arrangement of the atoms which are insepa- 
rable from and coincident with those colors, and of the 
odors also which come with the colors and out of such 
an atomic arrangement. 

There is in the fields no chaos ; nothing is left to 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 159 

chance ; all is system — harmony. Man's function is to 
learn the principles and ideas contained in the source; 
to ascertain the scientific laws by which atoms, visible 
and indivisible, come into their present arrangements; 
and thence obtain the secret of the harmonies which 
pervade all the ways and works of Wisdom. Having 
made discoveries his next business is to reduce them to 
what is called " science." Science regulates the perceptive 
and intellectual «parts of his mind — gives system, pro- 
portion, and regularity of action — by means of which 
system of thought and precision of procession he makes 
all his progress and expands his civilization. 

But the restless, progressive mind soon exhausts his 
discovery. He must go higher in the same direction, 
make further discoveries, and thence more beautiful 
expansions in Art, and more complete applications in 
common things. Having applied his new facts to things, 
he exhausts them, or loses interest in them, and thus 
it becomes necessary that he should sow a new crop of 
discoveries. So he charges the soil with new fertilizing 
thoughts, and puts the old land to other uses. His 
restless, progressive mind, needs it ; for he is endowed 
with a wondrous variety of powers and functions and 
attributes, which must be gratified. 

The consequence of such awakening is that his mind 
is more than ever anxious for advancement. Humboldt 
could not rest in his study after having investigated the 
physical facts of a quarter of the globe. His discover- 
ies were accurate, so far as they went ; birt they were 
only doors to greater and grander things. Humboldt's 
mind is not at rest to-day ; he is still traveling and dis- 
covering sections in the " house not made with hands." 



100 MATERIAL WOEK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

His immortal feet press other hills and mountains ; his 
new-lit e} T es see other landscapes ; and his large mind 
is measuring new scenes of imperishable beauty and sig- 
nificance. Astronomers, too, do not soon rest. Having 
discovered one planet, they must discover another. The 
discovery of a hundred planets makes it necessary (for 
the feeding of such hungry minds) that two hundred 
shall be discovered. 

The time comes for the application. Then millions 
invest in one discovery. All men buy and jread alma- 
nacs, because the discoveries of a few earnest, truthful, 
scientific men have fixed the facts that regulate the 
seasons. Suns and moons and stars rise and set so 
mathematically and unmistakably accurate, that millions 
of people, without a thought of skepticism, purchase 
almanacs, regulate their business in-doors and out, and 
conduct nearly all their agricultural and commercial 
affairs, by means of the application of the discoveries 
of a few able, earnest friends of science. 

Men must go forward in their work of progressive 
civilization; they have the grand example of the 
expanded universe ever before them. The physical and 
spiritual universes never fail in any of their functions, 
because they are regulated by laws that never fail to 
carry out the designs with which they were freighted 
from the heart. Principles are the life of laws; ideas 
are the life of principles ; and God is the life of ideas. 
No man or woman is spiritually-minded until he or she 
has arrived at spirit. To be a spiritualist, is to nomi- 
nate yourself by a mere term ; to be spiritual, is to 
possess a great soul-stirring and progressing Idea. A 
spiritual worker is one who works, from the essential 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 161 

center — from Ideas, through the leverage of laws, using 
principles as the fulcrum over which the lever acts on 
any solid substance with which it comes in contact* 
Standing with the long end of the lever (a knowledge 
of natural law) in their hands, such workers can "move 
the mountains" which stand between them and the 
attractions and benefits of the future. Faith and works 
are inseparable. No soul is wholly destitute of faith in 
God. Truth and Love and Wisdom and immutable 
principles — these millions believe in even when they 
have no conception of a super-personal consciousness, 
God, or of an inter-personal love-essence called Nature. 
No man is destitute of faith in principles. Virtue and 
goodness and philanthropy, and whatever is high and 
noble, command the reverent love and respect of all 
mankind. 

Those who possess Ideas are truly spiritual and 
progressive people. When they work, they work as 
flowers grow, from centers through their own organiza- 
tions. Organizations come up here and there around 
them ; they spring up and bring forth like harvests in 
the fields. Thousands, yea millions, are this hour 
waiting for such center-born organizations. The 
world's busy millions do not get at Ideas; they need 
temporary organizations and supporting substances. 
When a building is in process of construction, a scaffold- 
ing is a necessary part of the work. The carpenter 
calculates for a scaffold just as carefully as for the vari- 
ous materials out of which the building is to be made. 
When the structure is perfected, the scaffolding is 
removed. Even so when progressionists elaborate an 
idea and get it into the world, let them take down the 



162 MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

no longer needed scaffolding — the organization by 
which the idea was attained. Let the temple of Truth 
stand white and immortally beautiful before the eyes of 
all men. Let it be based upon the solid rock of scien- 
tific knowledge ■; let it be seen ana felt by all ; let it be. 
inhabited by every one who feels the essential attraction. 
Must a man wear the clothes of his youth forever because 
they fitted him once? Or, must men always cling to 
their creeds and doctrines because by means of them 
they attained newer ideas in religion and a few finer 
habits in civilization ? Let creeds, doctrines, definitions 
cease, as, indeed, they finally do with men and women 
of ideas. Distinctions vanish like the mists of morning 
in the presence of ideas that burn with such unutterable, 
glorious effulgence. But before you get to Ideas, such 
scaffolding as forms definitions, doctrines, thoughts, 
creeds, theories, systems, are necessary. 

I never stop to battle with the size of the clothes 
that children must wear. Little patterns are natural 
to little folks. But I will remonstrate, and pronounce 
an injunction in the holy authority of Ideas, when I see 
grown-up persons still trying to keep in the garments 
of their childhood. Behold sectarians ! See the little 
garments with which they swathe themselves, in which 
they are bound and cribbed and cabined and confined, 
and. dare not move — miserable, fashionable mummies, 
grown up apparently as big feeling as anybody with 
brains— great, handsome looking ladies, and great, 
beautiful men, #oing into the churches and taking on 
the old garments and sitting in sackcloth without ashes 
— all of it a: part of the machinery of childhood in old- 
time religion ! It is plainly a demonstration that they 

/ 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 163 

have not ideas. They are not free. The children of 
light are free, because light is truth. Truth gives free- 
dom, not only to your judgments, but also to your 
affections — just as true and as free in your externals as 
in your inmost. Freedom and purity are commensurate 
and inseparable. Pure freedom comes from pure spirit. 
License and unrestrained indulgence are the impulsive 
freebootery of the impassioned soul toward that to 
which it is directed. You can see lustfulness and 
licentiousness in their disguises all through the world 
- — in politics, in society, and in the social relations. 
Democratic notions of freedom are but the uncouth 
prophecies of what one day will be the common experi- 
ence of the people, accepted as divine, without any 
thought of impurity, and incorporated in the unwritten 
statutes of the universal heart. 

But there are persons who, destitute of ideas, see 
merely the forms which restrain and circumscribe them. 
Such externalists think that the world is wrong, and 
must be brought to their standard of right. That is 
bigotry. Must I hate my brother because he enters the 
Calvinistic church, and shun my sister in the Church of 
Rome, because she does not think as I do? Ideas lift 
us out of thoughts, above forms, above creeds, above 
doctrines and systems, and breathe the spirit of 
unbounded charity and good will. 

Man's power is to discover — not to create. Man 
can "create" nothing ; he can only discover and apply. 
Now man is destined to discover the laws by which the 
Infinite has expressed imperishable harmony throughout 
the material and spiritual universes — the discovery of 
the laws by which all eternal harmony is established. 



16i MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

Succeeding this discovery will come the power to apply. 
This application will bring in new social, political, and 
religious relations, like that higher harmony which he 
beholds and worships in the physical universe. Thus 
man is endowed with a very vast mission of eternal 
uses to him. If men were destitute of ideas, they would 
be animals. If men were animals, they would be regu- 
lated by the harmonious laws of life and instinct which 
regulate animals. But mankind have ideas ; therefore 
we are what animals can never be — capable of winging 
our way through the empyrean of light, through the 
universe of boundless freedom. I do not mean that we 
are free in any absolute physical sense. No man can 
fly outside of matter. No man can reverse or violate a 
principle: no man can mortally offend an idea; no man 
can disturb God. But man can by discovery bring 
himself into relation with ideas and principles and laws, 
and become physically healthy like the material uni- 
verse, and spiritually healthy like the spiritual universe. 
Then, like them and with them, he is in harmony. Then 
he can bestow happiness, goodness, and divine strength 
on those about him. This seems to me to be as simple 
as any sum in the rudiments of arithmetic. No crea- 
tions are made in music. Sounds exist through all the 
temple of Nature. Man can merely discover the laws 
of the Omnipotent by which sounds may be made to 
harmonize in different combinations. " Music" is the 
name given to the science thus discovered, and to the 
application of the science. But there is a central key- 
note by which all notes and chords are arranged and 
attuned. 

Man's position with relation to all the kingdoms 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 165 

beneath is the master chord, and the central key-note. 
If he is not attuned, his discords shiver through all the 
subordinate kingdoms. If he is m harmony, all the 
kingdoms of the earth feel, enjoy, participate, recipro- 
cate, and justice reigns. Reciprocation is an expres- 
sion of Justice. Distributive justice is seen in the equal 
expansion of natural reciprocation. From your own 
system outwardly into society send forth a good and just 
condition, and you thence and thereby expand into a 
state by which you can be fed and built up stronger 
and better. 

It is necessary that many should be together in one 
place in order that all may be fed and nourished and 
made to grow by spiritual things. All persons testify 
against and naturally shrink from isolation, desolation, 
loneliness. They testify against those conditions 
because Nature, the Spirit-Mother of all intelligences, 
has determined that society shall be the form, the men- 
struum, the universal ocean in which all are molded, 
fashioned, and dissolved. 

There is a social sovereignty which is just as obliga- 
tory as individual sovereignty. Some accept the 
doctrine that " individual sovereignty" covers and 
comprehends all — that a man is allowed by Nature to 
practice and carry out his individual preferences and 
decisions "at his own cost." But this doctrine is but 
half the story of man's relation to society. It is logical 
and true ; but true only just so far as the half of any- 
thing is true. Social sovereignty is larger and grander, 
more perfect, more binding, and more divine; just as 
the ocean is larger* grander, more perfect and more 
divine, than the spring on the mountain's side or the 



166 MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

rivulet that starts from the quiet valley. The life of 
the individual is the stream that flows down through 
the valley. The ocean is made of all springs and all 
streams, and all the rivulets that flow down from the 
millions of hills hasten to seek their common social 
•level. The ocean is the grand symbol of the Infinite 
Spirit in which all minds dwell, and out of which all 
things spring into manifestation and animation. 
Geologists tell you that all things came from the sea. 
First, the water was universal ; then came the dry 
land. The first is society. Society is universal ; then 
came institutions, organizations, dry land, solid places : 
but the individual life is inseparable from the universal 
society of mankind. 

The spiritual worker is one who sees the idea, who 
catches the spirit within a principle, who works for the 
harmonious% molding of whatever is about him, and not 
selfishly for personal advancement. For example, look at 
the question of < ; intemperance." The Maine liquor law, 
a matter of so much controversy some years ago, was 
passed to legislate alcohol out of existence. But the 
moment you ascend to the presence of an idea, you dis- 
cover that men are not constituted to be driven into or 
out of existence. Their appetites and passions cannot 
be easily destroyed by legislation. It is true that good 
laws may hamper and destroy, to a great extent, the 
vices of society. But how do most of our best laws 
originate? They originate with legislators and gov- 
ernors who have Ideas. A few good men first pro- 
claim the principle; then the office-seeking politicians 
grasp it and say: " There is success in that creed," and 
they take hold of it, and carry into politics what was 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 167 

at first a glorious effort with a few philanthropic minds. 
In ten years the good thought, the good idea that was 
first promulgated, is degraded or obliterated. Then 
come organizations, scheming, wire-pulling, log-rolling, 
all these desperate and diabolical plans which selfish 
men without principle have instituted, in order to carry 
out what they supposed would be successful. 

Then what is to be done ? Why, the Moral Police, 
composed of men and women, must continue the work. 
They must go interior — close to the life of the law — to 
the Idea! They must stand upon platforms in public and 
in private places, and utter those divine thoughts which 
go deeper than the plans and policies of the world. 
They are commissioned to act just where and in pro- 
portion as they comprehend the idea of justice. 

The spiritually-minded person is inspired. Justice 
is not a word ; it is the name of a sacred principle. It 
does not mean that you must do what I think is right. 
It means that you must be just ; first of all to and 
within yourself. Your justice to me will be like your 
habitual justice to yourself. Suppose you meet a man 
who has indulged largely in intoxication. It is useless 
to appeal to him with "What will people say?" He 
don't care what they say ; he is, perhaps, lost to that 
kind of respect ; he does not seek it ; he has been too 
many times deceived and debauched. The sailor lies 
down in the hold of his ship, drunken as a beast. And 
the deserted, abandoned woman cannot be successfully 
appealed to from the social side of life. There is only 
one thoroughly practical way to reach those who have 
got so low in the bed of sorrow. It is by affectionately 
inspiring the hearts of such persons with the idea that 
8 



168 MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

they are immortal, and not only so, but that they haze 
in them the resources of sweet happiness, 'and that 
those resources can be opened, and that you will faith- 
fully aid them in such opening and to their consequent 
happiness. First assure the person that no reliance 
can be placed upon such help from you, or from God's 
angels, or from spirits in the flesh or out, until there is 
basis in the soul's will and aspirations. You reach 
the heart the moment you ascend to this point of wis- 
dom. It is bringing justice to the person. The sad 
soul feels it. " Bathe your body, my friend ; you have 
a beautiful body. You have feet and can walk ; you 
have hands and can use your arms; you have eyes and 
can see; you have ears andean hear; and a tongue 
with which to speak the words of truth. Do you dis- 
regard these parts ? Can you carry them day after 
day and respect them not?" 

'io such teaching the soul will listen. I knew a per- 
son who at once abandoned the use of tobacco when he 
discovered that his fine teeth were being spoiled. You 
might have preached to him the "Sermon on the 
Mount," or any other sermon, but nothing would reach 
and reform so soon as the appeal personal. The selfish 
are touched when you appeal to that which is in har- 
mony with their mental conditions. Plenty of persons 
are lifted out of the mud and despair, not by an idea, 
but by a pair of comfortable shoes. It is so much bet- 
ter to begin with people where you find them. Show 
that you are a genuine brother or sister, that your 
interest is not selfish, but of divine ideas, and the heart. 
You work from the life of God that is within, from the 
idea of fraternal affection and resurrection. Preach 






MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 169 

resurrection to the dead, and tell them that the trump 
must sound. I believe that the trump is now sound- 
ing in the ear of every person in this wide world. 
The gospel of progress is the trump of the resurrection. 
The dead are all around you, and sometimes within 
yourself; that is, dead faculties, or thoughts "dead in 
trespasses and sins." If you are anywhere inert, you 
are to the same extent dead, and involved in this ques-' 
tion of the resurrection. What portion of you do you 
feel to-day to be of no service to yourself or to man- 
kind ? That portion calls for the influence of some 
resurrecting mind. We should be to each other a thou- 
sand times more precious than we are ; each should go 
out of self, and enter upon a broader and more glorious 
field of work. Do you wish to promote your own per- 
sonal development ? Then work for the personal 
development and happiness of others. Only on these 
terms will you advance. It is like the blacksmith 
unthinkingly developing his right arm. Does he swing 
the hammer with the intention of expanding and hard- 
ening his muscular power ? He stands by his anvil, 
and you say ; ' What a strong, brawny arm that work- 
ing man has ! What a deep, large chest! What great 
muscles about his shoulders!" "Yes," he replies; "I 
have continued at my daily work." He is healthily, 
muscularly, beautifully developed, because he has 
wrought with the iron for others, and not for the per- 
sonal purpose of building upon his body. 

Thus, if , you work and pray for your own private 
spiritual development, you will not be developed ve~y 
soon. If I unfold this lecture in your presence for svwy 
personal gratification, of the selfish kind, I shall ua 



170 MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

neither gratified nor improved by what is uttered. Do 
a benevolent act for the express purpose of being pub- 
licly applauded for your organ of benevolence, and the 
result will do you no good. The motive would be self- 
ish, and the action could not bring a blessing. If your 
existence needs expansion and your mind culture, then 
promote benevolence and culture in others. Go out of 
your selfish circles into the society of the poor. Never 
think that because you go to the bedside of the sick, 
you will yourself be cured. If you bestow healthful 
influences upon the sick, without undue exhaustion, you 
are sure to be personally benefited. Do good from* a 
selfish motive, and you will find a chemical poison at 
the very heart, which will leave your nature as poor as 
a miser is with his full coffers. 

The spiritual worker is one who, impressed with the 
idea of fraternal love, and feeling its holy warmth in 
the soul, goes right out into society with healing in his 
wings. Such a person goes and comes as a peace- 
maker. Natures of this stamp are commissioned from 
the heaven of heavens to do unto others as they would 
have others do unto them, and that, too, without a 
thought of the golden rule. They obey it because they 
are as good as it. They who so live and so act* are 
constantly dwelling in that state to which they would 
elevate all mankind. 

Man is destined to bring about in society the har- 
mony of all the passions which are demons, and of the 
appetites, too, which are unclean spirits, and the balance 
of Ul the various discords of his mind, which are his 
ever-present satans. Demons and unclean spirits are to 
be vanquished, but only by the power of spiritual work- 



MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 171 

ers who start from the throne of Ideas. No man can 
conquer a passion for tobacco, or destroy the force of 
any appetite, by merely acting upon it from his will. 
The soul and body are raised by means of an inspira- 
tion, toward health and purity, which reaches and 
buoys up the mind until the physical passion subsides 
and the besetting appetite departs. Some minds attain 
this state by a sort of change in their physical or chemi- 
cal growth ; others reach it by means of what they call 
religious revivalism, or conversion. But the cultured 
way to it is through the comprehension and application 
of Ideas. The principal idea which exalts and equali- 
zes mankind, without filling the individual with ego- 
tism, is that each is supreme head of all the kingdoms 
beneath ; that the high function of each is to discover 
the unchangeable laws which give harmony and per- 
fection to the universe ; and finally to apply the teach- 
ings of those laws to all the kingdoms, powers, functions 
about him not only, but also to all the passions, organs, 
demons, satans, or appetites and discords within the 
temple of private being. Mankind are destined to be 
" lords of creation," both materially and spiritually. 
What is possible to all, is possible to each, and vice 
versa. All may become gentle, and useful, and beautiful, 
loving their neighbors as themselves. None can live and 
work in this way, save the truly spiritual. I know that 
such souls are in the churches, at the bottom of all re- 
ligious organizations. They are the spiritual men 
who first realized Ideas. John Wesley > John Murray, 
John Calvin — these, and many who are visible all the 
way down the steeps of time, wrought from the life of 
Ideas 



172 MATERIAL WORK FOR SPIRITUAL WORKERS. 

Let us, therefore, concern ourselves not deeply with 
organizations and instruments of labor ; for, with true 
Ideas, helpful organizations will inevitably come 
Thus every wholesome organization comes up. An idea 
starts the principle; the principle divulges the law; 
the law dictates the method. An organization, conse- 
quently, is inevitable. Individual labors for mankind 
will bear " good fruit" when governed by the inspira- 
tions of Ideas. Such labors may be distributed and 
imitated throughout parts of civilization. Great phi- 
lanthropists slumber here and there waiting for some 
occasion to resurrect them. Act well the part of a 
spiritual being ; be faithful to what is true and good ; 
the future will take loving care of both itself and you. 
This is the heavenly rest that comes from true inspira- 
tion of ideas. Think not of to-morrow, or next year ; 
work now, living nobly in your day and hour. Be true 
to the life of truth. The life of truth is God. Be 
faithful ever, and true-hearted to all who love you. 
Years ago men used to say to me, " Well, Mr. Davis, 
if God is in this work, it will succeed, and if he is not, 
it will come to naught.'*' Assuredly ; nothing is more 
certain. It is the good, wholesome, old-fashioned 
notion about special providences in man's life. I like 
it. Yes, God is always in everything, and more espe- 
cially in the idea of everything. You and your God 
may walk together. The Divine is not afar off, look- 
ing with a great eye to see whether you are doing the 
fair thing or not. An Idea is from God. Work from 
its inspirations, and you and your God are one. Thus 
the inheritance of life becomes a perpetual blessing. 



ULTIMATE® IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 



"There are some qualities— some incorporate things, 
That have a double life, which thus is made 
A type of that twin entity which springs 
From matter and light, evinced in solid and soul." 

By the term Summer-Land is meant a sphere of 
perpetual youth, where physical disease, which is dis- 
cord, does not, because it cannot, prevail ; where the 
effects of moral imperfections and evils continue ; where 
the consequences of bodily and mental infirmities are 
visible, not in the constitution and appearance of that 
existence, but wholly in the constitution and appearance 
of those who possess those infirmities when they go 
from the earth to that land. This lecture is concern- 
ing the existence and appearance of Ct ultimates''* in the 
Summer-Land. In a future volume 1 hope to be ena- 
bled, by means of new astronomical and picturesque 
diagrams, to illustrate what I cannot impart through 
language. There are yet very important lessons to be 
conveyed in connection with this glorious question of 
man's immortal existence. Word-painting cannot ade- 
quately impart to the mind what a few illustrations 
would beautifully and permanently impress. This 
uu-stion of " ultimates" in the Summer-Land in con- 



174 TTLTIMATES IK THE SUMMER-LAND. 

tradistinction to primates and proximates, may be very 
plainly and briefly stated. In this discourse, however, 
I can do little more than lay out the work. 

To properly prepare your minds to see the ultimates, 
it may be necessary first to speak of primates and 
proximates. Let us endeavor to strike the key-note to 
which the music of the world is set, so that every ear 
may hear and every heart understand the glorious 
truths of eternal existence. We must search the volume 
of Nature, because in its pages we find the gospel of 
death and of eternal life. " The firmament," which is 
overhead in the temple of Nature, " showeth handi- 
work. 5 ' The firmament, therefore, is the open scroll of 
the infinite volume. Its contents are the true " scrip- 
tures" for mankind " to search." Everything in arti- 
ficial bibles which corresponds to the teachings of the 
Scriptures in this expanded universe, is eternal truth. 
Everything, on the other hand, which conflicts with 
these natural scriptures, must fall among the tares and 
errors, and be swept away by the billows of the rolling 
years, with every other thing erroneous and outgrown 
by man in his onward march. Men never shrink from 
errors that are burnt up and gone. They only shrink 
from the mortification and " the pain" caused at' the 
moment of their destruction. A new truth, like a dentist, 
puts his iron grasp upon the old-time and loved error, 
and pulls it out k < by the roots" from its deep socket in 
the brain. Sometimes, indeed, the root of the error is 
deeper — in very sincere and delicate affections. Not 
many pains suffered by human souls can be more intense 
than the extraction of worshiped and costly errors 
made sacred by time and important by the pomp of 



ULT'IMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 175 

circumstance and occasion. I know tender souls who 
shrink from the pain and mortification inseparable from 
such reformation, somewhat as cowardly men dread the 
tender caressing of the professional dentist. 

But the trial must come sooner or later. Errors, 
however beautiful and gold-enameled by time, must 
be extracted from the human mind by the archangel of 
eternal truth. Search the scriptures of Nature — the 
handiwork of the firmament — for in them you will find 
the holy truths of eternal life. To understand the 
apocalyptic glories of the universe, study the Genesis of 
this God-inspired volume. The Genesis and the Exo- 
dus of the book are the Primates and the Proximates, 
The Ultimates you cannot see in this world except logic- 
ally from the force of philosophical principles. In 
this lecture I may not speak of the Ultimates as I have 
seen them, and as you will see them one of these days, 
because time will not permit, and justice to the ques- 
tion admonishes me to present only the fundamental 
lessons for consideration. Humanity is now divided, 
by scientific men, into distinct races. Whether such 
division be correct or incorrect, we need not now stop 
to consider. They commence with their classifications 
— down or up, as the case may be — first, the Caucasian; 
second, the Mongolian ; third, the Indian ; fourth, the 
Malay ; fifth and lastly, the Negro. This order is 
tracing mankind from what might be termed Ultimates, 
down to their rudiments, or Primates. Let us commence 
with the roots — with the Negro — and come up through the 
Malay, the Indian race, the Mongolian, and halt at the 
Caucasian, which civilhees have both the honor and 
the dishonor to represent. We leave this classification 
for the present, lodged in the mind. 
8* 



176 ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

Scientific men, whether correctly or not, have also 
classified the organic world into regularly ascending 
stages. No intelligent mind can long think chaotically. 
An intelligent mind, to make intellectual progress, must 
think as Nature compels him to think — from primates, 
on and up through infinite complications and endlessly 
successive combinations, to ultimates. Thus he makes 
progress both by the reflex action of education and by 
the legitimate and natural exercise of his faculties. 
Truly scientific men are constrained by Nature to think 
progressively up from the mollusk to full-blossomed 
humanity. They arrange the scale musically if they 
are inclined to music, or arbitrarily, if they are inclined 
to follow the routine of scholastic learning. They 
arrange it naturally and deductively if they have 
spiritual illumination. It is very much like the botany 
that is taught in the schools ; there is the natural 
analysis of plants, and there is also the artificial method. 
Some commence naturally with the roots and go on 
upward, following the chronological order of its 
growth. The artificial analysis commences with the 
surfaces and works toward the basis. Nature compels 
man to investigate with system, because all is a perfect 
system. Whoso questions Nature aright, truly reads 
the scriptures which teach of God and eternity. 

Nature, by scientific men, is studied and classified 
in her organic relations progressively. Commence with 
the lowest form of fish life; work up through the age 
of serpents ; come to birds ; study the marsupials ; 
then the mammalia ; then the quadrumanals, troglo- 
dytes, and the gorillas ; then stop at home and investi- 
gate Man. I think the scientific world has not yet 



ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. . 177 

taken its own position into the account; it has not 
yet ascertained its own relation and importance to the 
onward progress of the race. Not having done this, it 
is overlooking the very key-note to which all the music 
of the world's intellectual growth is set. I suppose 
that this blindness is right, because Nature makes 
science masculine, superficial, proud, exclusive, exact, 
always on the surface, yet necessary to the world's 
growth. But there is something more inspiring than 
science, i. e. — Art. Art is but Nature in her " superior 
state." Science is Nature reporting herself with mate- 
rial eyes and in " a common state" — always positive, 
never designing to confuse chalk with cheese, never 
intentionallv calling a thins: black when it is white. 
Granite is always granite in the eyes of science. It 
is natural, therefore, that science should decide that 
man's life goes out like his breath when he dies. 
Science very honestly, stoutly, sternly, godlessly says 
that man does not survive the decay of his organs. The 
religious world takes up the evidence not seen by 
science. So far as it goes, however, science is the 
world's grandest archangel — without wings, without a 
heart for humanity, with only a front brain, having no 
affections for theories, creeds, or philosophy. 

But Art comes to our relief. She comes from the 
woman side of Nature. Art reports the most interior, 
and unfolds the ultimates of the life of things. Music 
can never be separated from art. Poetry and music 
have pure affections. Painting is but another expression 
of universal art. Science commences at the right side 
and works leftward ; art commences in the left side 
and works right ward ; thus they meet, and interlock, 



178 ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

and silver-chain together in their marchings. Art 
rises spirally toward heaven, but science continues hori- 
zontally with the earth ; with its eyes upon the stars 
it rises not ; for it sees only solid bodies reflecting 
light. Art alone interprets the light of the stars and 
gives the music to which all bodies are wedded. The 
magnificent beauty of the physical world is unfolded 
through art. Science respects art only so far as it will 
illustrate and develop the exactitudes of science. 

Nature works in this wise and beautiful way. She 
starts her men, the masculine power, from the right, 
and her feminine elements from the left, and thence 
they work in opposite directions. Art moves upward 
until it reaches a certain elevation, and then it begins 
to draw its credentials from science. Then it lets down 
its buckets in the deep wells of exact discoveries, and 
draws up thence its best and most enduring lessons. 

As spiritualists, as searchers for eternal life, we 
should become acquainted with both the right and the 
left hands of Nature. Let us contemplate nature in 
man and nature in woman ; nature in God, and there- 
fore God in nature. God commences with the right, 
and thence works leftward round and round, and circles 
over and over throughout infinitude. Nature com- 
mences with the left, and thence works rightward and 
reaches the ultimate center, and unites with the soul 
and mind in the fountain of all supreme excellence and 
glory. The two meet and flow through each other, 
returning and circling to and fro perpetually, the one 
being represented by Science and the other by Art. 

The negro may be said to represent the left side of 
humanity. Thi3 statement certainly puts a new com 



ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 179 

plcxion on the subject. The negro starts from the left side, 
the Caucasian from the right, and the opposite races work 
leftward and rightward in all countries and in all his- 
tory. The negro is artful and emotional. He repre- 
sents nature in her senses ; the Caucasian is nature in 
her brains and organs. The first manifestation of taste 
in the female nature is surface ornaments, display, 
colors, gems, eyes, teeth, personal presentation. This 
is the feminine power in the senses: the first manifesta- 
tion of the left side attractions. The masculine com- 
mences with the brain and works into the senses, and 
scarcely ever gets out of them. If more men were out 
of their senses — in their superior condition — and had 
arrived at Art, " the world would be the better for it." 
Woman commences leftward and works rightward. 
She begins in the heart of things and expands and 
reaches to the surface-plane from which man started. 

The middle or neutral ground is occupied by the 
transition races — say the Malays, the Indians, and the 
Mongolians. The middle ground, therefore, is occupied 
by these bridges, which connect the two sides of 
humanity. These three types in the organic world, I 
repeat, bridge over between the feminine and the mas- 
culine in ethnology, and in the interior attributes of 
opposite races. You have often seen the beautiful con- 
centric lines of work in the shells on the sea-shore. All 
sea-shells are made with spiral lines ; they can be con- 
structed in no other way. What does it mean ? It 
means that they are illustrations of Art, which com- 
mences from Nature's left side and works artistically. 
All the shells in the depths, caves, and grottoes of the 
sea are adorned with her glorious artistic impress and 



180 ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

handiwork. But Man's art is not like the art of Nature. 
His art is science, a thoughtful child of the brain. He 
studies and works to find out how Nature made her 
shell, and fish, and birds, and stars. His aim is to 
imitate such labors. An egg is one of the most simple, 
wonderful, and beautiful works of Mother Nature. By 
the fullness and undulations of the large end, and by 
the spiral crinkles at the small end, an experienced eye 
can tell which is feminine and which masculine. 

All forces meet and conspire in the human organi- 
zation. You will find that all powers of mind come out 
in the highest types of the human race. But in the 
negro you find what men call the sentiments and emo- 
tions. He fully enjoys his senses. Loving simple 
pleasure, he seeks it on the surface, but readily deepens 
by education. The Malay is very different. It is the 
Rhodent. It is the class of mind that seeks to live on 
others. It chooses a dark abode and burrows in the 
ground. The Indian, whether he be North American 
or Oriental, is very different. The squirrel and the 
raccoon, and the animals that live like them in the 
forests, represent the Indian, and they will live and 
they will die together. When Nature gets old enough 
to destroy all of the animals' that live on nuts and 
acorns and berries and fruits of the field and the forest, 
and when she also destroys all that live upon the flesh 
of other animals, then will she be also old enough to 
seal the destiny of the Oriental as well as the western 
tribes of the streams and wildernesses. 

But the system works onward. She next gets into 
the Mongolian. The Mongolian is represented by the 
quadrumanal. Horses, cows, dogs, wolves, and the 



ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER- LAND. 181 

domestic mammalia, correspond to this branch of 
the human family. The Caucasian world is repre- 
sented by the European and the American. This 
portion of mankind pursues all parts of nature by 
science, and lays all existence under heavy tribute. 
The Caucasian subjects the world to himself. No 
representative of any other race has such pre- 
eminence. He eats freely of everything, breathes 
all atmospheres, enjoys all possible shades of pleasures. 
He pursues happiness through progression. The negro 
pursues simple life and pleasure through the senses. 
The Caucasian aspires after happiness, which includes 
all pleasure and is the white flower of every kind of 
obedience. Nature contributes freely from all her 
departments, and constantly yields to his persistent 
encroachments and innumerable discoveries. The 
Caucasian seems to be representative of the higher race 
to come. He expands into the universal Yankee, which 
is a newspaper epithet of much significance, because he is 
destined to become the climacteric development of the 
antecedent races, to expand by means of his energy and 
encroachments and infringements, all over the inhabita- 
ble" globe. 

The American does not become Europeanized. The 
negro does not cause the" white man to be Africanized, 
except so far as imitation and temporary association 
go,. and the upshot of it all is, that the African becomes 
Caucasianized in his habits, tendencies, and aspirations. 
The African is a simple child of Nature, filled with the 
sentimentalities of Art. The Caucasian holds up to 
him the banners of industry, of science, pfhilosophy, 
investigation — opens his eyes to behold the temples of 



182 TJLTTMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

learning and of universal progress. When a man sit« 
down to a table and partakes of beef, he does not 
become beef, but beef becomes him. That is true of 
the Caucasian world. The Negro, the Malayan, the 
Indian and the Mongolian are walking and working 
together — as none of them could walk and work singly. 
The Caucasian shakes hands with them all. Bayard 
Taylor is cosmopolitan, so also are other travelers who 
feel the blood of America fully developed in their veins. 
They go anywhere on the face of this planet, shake 
hands with the people, and affiliate with them all as 
brother associates with brother. The Negro cannot do 
this ; the Malay cannot do it ; no Indian can do it ; only 
the Caucasian goes all over the world and makes it con- 
tribute its riches to his science. He travels by the map 
and the compass ; he steers by the north star ; and he 
makes friends with science and philosophy. He subjects 
all things around him in order to make of them so many 
new instrumentalities of his greater expansion. 

What does all this mean ? It means that the human 
family ascends, through the gradual development of the 
races, to the Caucasian world. It does not, however, 
mean that other races are cast down into the earth's 
chemistry, and thus lose their immortality at death. It 
would be as reasonable to teach that the superior facul- 
ties of the mind live forever, while the social and per- 
ceptive faculties, which ally him to the interests of 
creation, do not survive death. Man goes to the Second 
Sphere with the ultimates of all his parts, portions, and 
functions. So the Caucasian race goes into the future, 
not as the only regal and royal product of the organic 
world, but as a member of the family of races. The 



ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 183 

ultimates of every race in the Summer-Land establish a 
community or a world of their own. So long as the 
individuality of a race can be extended through its 
organization, so long will that race continue to project 
itself into the history and experience of coming ages. 
The Caucasian man and woman can visit all the brother- 
hoods and mingle with all classes and families there. 

Principles incorporated in his mind begin to devel- 
ope themselves, and to link him sympathetically with 
ail other races and brotherhoods. Thus extremes 
meet. The negro and the white man — that is to say, 
the African and the Caucasian, as left hand and right — ■ 
are coming eventually together, and will friendly face 
like palm to palm. The star of empire goeth westward ; 
will it not cross the Pacific, and connect itself with that 
eastern world whence civilization sprung ? If the cir- 
cuit is made and the connection perfect, it will be like 
a magnetic circle. 

When civilization crosses from our Western borders 
and marches to the steppes of Asia, what then will 
happen ? Europe will follow in the train, leaving the 
very place whence civilization started, to see where the 
Yankee is going to ; but the old race never can catch 
him ! 

When this world is unfolded with a state of civili- 
zation all around it, it will then represent what is 
practically known to be the highest source of joy in the 
Summer-Land. Extremes and ultimates meet in the 
sphere to which we go at death. The left hand and 
the right — the male and the female elements of nature 
■ — are certain to meet there, if they do not meet before. 
Here they meet only on the surface ; there they meet 



184: ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

from the interior. The Negro will never fully under- 
stand the Caucasian in this world ; because the Cau- 
casian will never fully understand the Negro ; while the 
races that come between these extremes will be neither 
understood nor tolerated. Two races will have in this 
world a long parallel career — the left and the right, 
or the Negro and the Caucasian. 

Nature insists upon having both left and right fully 
balanced in one body. No Indian prospers on this con- 
tinent, neither does the Malayan, nor the Mongolian. 
Only the Negro can prosper in copartnership with the 
Caucasian. I do not mean to teach that the races will 
become affiliated and amalgamated each with the other. 
The moment the opposite races touch perfectly, that 
moment they take separate rooms in the Father's house. 
They work for each other and through each other 
without affiliation or loss of individuality. The Indian 
is nearly related to neither race, and because he does 
not affiliate with them as closely as others do, he drops 
outward and goes away from among the races. 

The two opposite races meet again in the Summer- 
Land. Does not the Bible say that the "least shall be 
greatest in the kingdom of heaven" ? There are 
Christians who sincerely believe that the person who 
is here the most thoroughly "poor in spirit," will be 
the richest and greatest there. You will find that 
there is a deep meaning in this sentence. Does it not 
mean that the left-race will be equal to the race of the 
right-side? The greatest here will be the least there. 
They that superficially exalt themselves, are naturally 
abased, because the next step they take from a false 
exaltation, is certain to plant them upon a lower posi- 
tion. 



ULTIMATES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 185 

The Negro, starting from this left side of nature, 
and the Caucasian from the right, will in the Summer- 
Land represent two great opposite races. Men do not 
take their complexions with them. They take only the 
facts, which are indestructible — the consequences, the 
ultimates, the realities — not the primates, the fictions 
and the falsehoods. Ultimates are fully developed 
after death, and they are so developed that what here 
corresponds to Indians, Mongolians, and Malays, are 
there visible and distinguishable by many radical cha- 
racteristics. 

• In the Father's house there are "many mansions," 
because there are essentially different modifications of 
the human family. Each wants a comfortable, happy 
place in the Second Sphere. In the Summer-Land 
there are localities for all divisions and shades of the 
human race. There are always wings to great palaces. 
Middle places too, but grand side-positions invariably. 
The Caucasian world moves all through one wing, and 
the African world is free to move all through the 
opposite wing of the infinite palace. Nature is just as 
powerful and beautiful and eternal as God. God and 
nature work together; so Science and Art work 
together. The male and the female go on through all 
eternity. Intermediates also long continue. The princi- 
ples that are at work artistically making the tiny shells 
upon the sea-shore, are eternal principles. They are 
working as faithfully in the higher spheres as within 
and upon the earth. They round out globes and make 
roads throughout the universe. 

On some future occasion it may be shown what has 
ultimated and blossomed-out in the Second Sphere from 



186 ULTIMA TES IN THE SUMMER-LAND. 

the various kingdoms organized on the face of the 
earth. How natural and beautiful is what men call 
"spirit!" How rational and philosophical is all that 
men term "supernatural!" How entirely "at home," 
and not as strangers, will we all be when each has 
ascended to the Summer-Land ! 



A VOICE FEOM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

On the twenty-first day of August, 1359, while 
making clairvoyant examinations and writing upon the 
Second Part of *' The Thinker," in the fraternal mansion 
of C. O. Pool, Esq., at Buffalo, New York, I realized 
a gush of thoughts, surcharged with inexpressible long- 
ings, regarding the pure nature and visitation of James 
Victor Wilson. The wave soon subsided, however, 
and I was, as before, only occupied with the subject of 
my writing. The next day the same beautiful thoughts 
of him, and the same fraternal yearnings for his per- 
sonal presence, pervaded my whole mind. But these 
meditations and longings, as before, passed gently and 
utterly away. This experience was repeated from day 
to day until the twenty-fifth, the early morn of which 
dawned with the person of my Brother hovering in its 
wings. He came with his accustomed gentleness, stood 
close by the open window at which I was writing, and 
we conversed as naturally as any two spirits ever did. 
Of this I need not speak, having, as I think, amply ex- 
plained the method thereof in several preceding works. 

But regarding the personal appearance of this un- 
earthed Brother, who has resided some ten years in the 
spirit-land, I may remark briefly. His form is more 
round than when last I beheld him, and his motions 
and gestures are characterized with more uprightness 



188 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

and dignity. His bodily presence ennobled me at once, 
and I felt like one standing in the midst of royalty. 
His habiliments were artificial, evidently the work of 
more delicate hands than those of the finest terrestrial 
maiden, and he wore them as though he lived in a Land 
of snnnoer warmth and glory. The outlines of his fine 
form were visible through his garments. 

Of the following imperfect report of his conversation 
a few explanatory words are necessary. After luxu- 
riating some twenty minutes or more in social com- 
merce, during which he introduced the object of his 
visit, I then took time to write down all my memory of 
his communication. While engaged thus, my Friend 
would depart from the window. Whither I knew not. 
Bat he invariably returned in time to correct any mis- 
take in conception or spelling, and to proceed with the 
narration. In every instance where strange words were 
used to designate places, persons, or things, my habit 
was, as it always is, to request the repetition of them, 
in order to make certain of the pronunciation and ortho- 
graphy. Many words of this class occur in the follow- 
ing report. And here let the reader bear in mind, that 
these new words are written just as Brother Wilson pro- 
nounced them repeatedly in my hearing. Each syllable 
is to be spoken as written, which will then yield the 
correct pronunciation; and the sound of each word, as 
heard from the tongue of the gentle Spirit, conveys the 
sweetest music and the highest impression. Regarding 
the contents of this communication, I have nothing to 
say by way of explanation ; but cheerfully commit 
them to the reader's reason as a Voice fkom the Spibit- 
Land. 



A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 189 

" Throughout ray last discourse there flowed a tur- 
bulent river.* My joy was unutterable, my delight 
ineffable, my perception of truth ecstatic. Much have 
I w r ondered what my friends would think of that im- 
perfect report. Long have I wished to make a closer 
and a nicer revelation of the angel's home. The spirit- 
land is indeed a country of undying charms and posi- 
tive attractions. Among the millions of conceptions 
which within ten years I have unlearned, there remains 
one which is more sublime and.growingly-permanent 
than any truth I at first discerned, and that I gave yon : 
the Universe is a musical instrument, on which the' 
Divinity is perpetually expressing the ihfi.nitely-diversi- 
fied harmonies of his nature, which is immeasurably 
deep and altogether unchangeable." 

" Are you less joyous ?" I inquired. " Have you less 
delight and less truth than when you last visited me V 

" All things are new," he replied. i; I am less ecsta- 
tic now, because I am more happy. My joy is calmer 
because profonnder. In the early months of my exist- 
ence here, I was as a child over-excited with the worlds 
of immeasurable magnitude which rolled musically in 
every quarter of the firmament. I was wild with the 
ocean of attractions that throbbed round about my im- 
mortal self. iTo youth ever felt one-half of my enthu- 
siasm. Every excursion-troupe sent me an invitation. 
1 visited world upon world; walked upon planets 
twenty times larger and greatly more populous than 
Earth ; meditated as I thought, studied assiduously as 
I believed, tested facts by analysis as I fancied, and 
made nice philosophic measurements of much con- 

* See his communication in ''Philosophy of Spiritual Intercourse." 



190 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

secrated truth : yet I have inhaled, as I now know, but 
the fragrance of a few of those flowers which grow on 
the margin of the infinite ocean !" 

" If the task be not unpleasant, my angel- brother," 
said I ; " if this self-criticism be not ungracious and un- 
worthy of your wisdom, will you contribute to earthly 
minds the occupations and studies of your past few 
years 2" 

A heavenly light beamed from his white brow, and a 
rich flood of love poured out of his large, earnest blue 
eyes, when he opened his rosy lips to reply: "As the 
sun unrolls the flower, so have I had my being unrolled 
by the spontaneous working of eternal principles. But 
while travelling and flitting, so to speak, from star to 
star, dividing my thoughts by a countless variety of 
new sights, I made no happy progress in heavenly 
knowledge. Socially, intuitionally, and perceptively, I 
had obtained and absorbed much ; but when at length 
I wanted more than this, my reflective reason informed 
me that I was ignorant. Hundreds, yea thousands, 
have lived here thousands of years without visiting the 
surrounding worlds of space. Such are consecrated to 
the Father's service in healthful ways that are pleasant. 
Among these are Prodicus the eloquent Greek, Euripi- 
des the tragic poet, Socrates the ethical teacher, Her- 
mogenes, Plato, Xenophon, Moschus, Anaxagoras, 
Crito, and unnumbered other old men on earth of vast 
superiority of mind, who, though brilliant with youth- 
fulness now, and illustrious with a torrent of holy acts 
throbbing through their harmonious hearts, are fixed in 
their self-made orbits here, like the immutable stars of 
destiny iu your stellar scenery." 



A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 191 

" Do not these persons travel in the spirit-land .*" I 
isked, with unrestrained surprise. 

My angel-brother smiled with an awakened fervor 
spreading over his face, and replied : " They bring the 
whole universe down to their feet, and comprehend in 
truth every world and all the planets I have visited 
with infinitely more potent thought and spiritual accu- 
racy than I can understand even now." 

" You make a curious statement," said I. " Perhaps 
you can explain it so that I may get the image of your 
thought." 

" Happy word I" he exclaimed. " Images and like- 
nesses are but forms of ideas within the great minds of 
this existence. The realm of objects and forms is the 
educt of the world of ideas. The sensational sphere 
they regard as the sphere of effects ; the causes being 
inherent to mind, or Vaseiel, which is what you term 
spirit. Only he travels who knows not the contents of 
his own spirit. That every sun and fixed star, every 
world or heaven -of worlds, that latitudes and distances, 
objects, forms, time, are contained in man, passeth as 
yet my highest understanding. Yet there is a symmetri- 
cal dawning of this truth over the horizon of my faith- 
ful reason. I never doubt it, whenever inspired by the 
discourse of those chief stars of immeasurable self-pos- 
session, whose intellectual powers sweep the unmapped 
empires of immensity." 

" Friend Victor," I interposed, " can you explain 
how it was that your great thirst for journeying was 
satisfied ?" 

" That thirst is not quenched," he replied ; " another 
attraction prevails with me now, and has governed my 
9 



192 A VOICE FEOM the spirit land. 

thoughts for several years: I mean the study of 
Antiquity." • 

"Of Antiquity !" I exclaimed. "It seems to me 
that you are the last mind to be so employed." 

" Let me relate an incident," he replied. " I wan 
admiring the geometrical figures made upon the smootl 
soil by the shadows of a certain flower, when a membe? 
of the Plana deAlphos (a holy brotherhood) approached 
me, and asked : ' Which influence exalts you most, the 
sounds of the Porilleum (a musical spring), or the 
incense of the Yoralia (a beautiful and fragrant rose), 
that blooms on the slopes of the Pantrello f m No 
answer came to his simple question. He had many 
times witnessed the outbreaks of my boyish enthusiasm. 
A serene beauty and a brotherly compassion character- 
ized his face and speech, for he had let me into the 
depth of my own ignorance regarding the most familiar 
objects in the spirit-land. My mind mounted to a 
higher level of emotion and labor, and tenderly did I 
pray in silence to know which of the two influences was 
most exalting to my feelings. Although I had much 
intuitive knowledge of the spiritual laws, had contem- 
plated from the purple mountains of the Omniscient 
Spirit, had walked reverently beneath the stooping sky 
of many worlds in space, had studied as I thought the 
sculpture of Omnipotence in all the towers of the stellar 
universe, yet there I stood confounded by the noble 
Greek's simple question ! — yea, rebuked a thousand 
times every moment by the unfolded voralia at my feet, 



* This name is giv r en to a group of graceful hills iu the distance. 



A VOICE FKOM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 193 

and equally by the divine melody of the ever-flowing 
porilleum. 

"'Can you not reply?' asked the Greek, wno was 
even more gentle and compassionate than before. 

'- I replied in candor that I could not, and added : 
' Allow me the informing advantages of your Brother- 
hood ; attach me to your tender-spirited wisdom for a 
season, and I will promise to find the knowledge of God 
as he originally hid it in the least of things.' The 
good man extended his hand as a token of agreement. 
The tidal forces of his love beat through my heart. 
Like the tenth billow of a majestic-flowing sea was the 
uplifting influence of his wisdom beneath me. In 
silence I accompanied him to the Brotherhood of the 
Plana de Alphos." 

Here I asked my friend Wilson if he would give me 
a description of that celestial Association. 

He replied : " You remember the arcanum which I 
before disclosed, that those spirits which emanate from 
the earth, or from any other planet in the universe, are 
introduced into that society for which they entertain 
the most congenial sympathies and affections? This, 
like every other society or brotherhood, is thus organ- 
ized. It is situated on one of an unnumbered host of 
islands, which mark and diversity the geography of the 
Spirit-Land. The name of this beautiful isle is Akro- 
panamede, meaning 'All-Sided Perfection.' It is of 
immense proportions, but slopes on every side, wave- 
like, to the water's edge, where the endless rows of 
flowering Ganclulea (or fragrant trees) add their sym- 
metrical glory to the scene. These gandulea grow in 
the glorious gardens. They cover with their shade a 



194 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

musical porilleum here and there, and blend their per- 
fume with the odor of the immortal voralia blooming 
in the courts ; or with the incense which stealthily floats 
down from the dreamy pantrello ; where millions of 
those fairy flowers perpetually breathe their holy 
prayers. 

"The Isle of Akropanamede is shaped something like 
an earthly pear. It is more beautiful and heavenly 
than any terrestrial landscape can ever be. A brilliant 
river of vivid charms, called Appilobeda, flows like 
God's grace and love around the head of the isle. The 
smaller river, Atodyle, glides down from the opposite 
direction, against the narrow point of the Isle ; whither 
it separates into two equal streams, and flows thence 
musically into the embrace of the ever-glorious Appilo- 
beda. Birds of the most celestial song, and with plu- 
mage of the simplest beauty conceivable, fill the fragrant 
air with a mournful melody. The saddest singing-bird 
is called Quarreau, a native of the planet Mars, but 
brought here by the inhabitants of this Isle, who fre- 
quently visit the living population there, even as spirits 
now begin to hold commerce with the earth's inhabi- 
tants. Ineffably sweeter to me is the varied and rich 
notes, yet ever-sad songs, of the Baskatella • a forest- 
bird of the ivy-mantled trees of golden Saturn. These 
feathery songsters live and multiply here as they did 
upon their native orbs. 

" The Brotherhood of Plana de Alphos are serenely 
active in the greatest wonders of benevolence and art. 
There is upon this beautiful Isle the grandest temple of 
treasured antiquities. The Brothers call it the Agga- 
mede ; meaning ' the Cabinet of Antiquity.' Nothing 



A VOICE FEOM THE SPIEIT-LAKD. 195 

upon earth can similitude this wondrous combination of 
ancient architecture. There is, apparently, something 
of every absolute form of edifice in its mighty propor- 
tions. In extent, finish, and richness, it is overwhelm- 
ing; it seems that ten years of ceaseless walking would 
not pass me through all its parts. My noble guide and 
beloved teacher, whom the fraternity name Apozea, in 
answer to my first question concerning the dimensions 
of the Aggamede, said : ' Compose a circle of twenty-one 
sevens. This will reveal the number of wings to the 
temple ; also/the number of mansions contained in each 
wing. Multiply each seven by the whole number, and 
the total of the added amounts reveals the number of 
both the inter-linking avenues, and the surmounting 
domes. Place this number in the centre of the circle of 
sevens, multiply the central figures by each seven com- 
posing the band, and the total amount shows the number 
of square furlongs of spirit-land covered by the Agga- 
mede. Multiply the last amount by the central figures, 
and the product will reveal the number of square 
English miles of the Isle of Akropanamede. Diride 
this number by seven, and the amount obtained is the 
number of Brothers who compose the Fraternity of 
Plana de Alphos.' Seeing many beautiful women — 
younger and older — walking in the temple and gardens, 
I asked my Apozea for information regarding their con- 
lection with the Brotherhood. He gently instructed 
me at some length concerning the balance and equal 
happiness of the sexes in the benevolent arts and labors 
of the temple. Many of the women, and as many 
men, were there under the Divine vasoiel (or influence) 



196 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

of the fraternity. Such are called Opeathaleta, meaning 
the patients and students within the temple. 

" My Apozea's lifted intellect seemed to shed sunlight, 
mingled with mystery, upon everything he alluded to 
or touched. Field, form, flower, bird, spring, tree, 
temple, even my fellow-beings, were both brilliant with 
uses and blurred with a sad-like shadow of undefinable 
mystery. He comprehended my condition, as I stood 
without the wing of the temple, and said cheeringly : 
' Advance, my baskatella (bird), for thou art our 
beloved Ojpeathalos (student), and the time future is 
thine to become whatso thou wilt ; for thou art even 
now fit to stir within others the power of thought, and 
to meditate with the happy Paralorella* The distant 
pantrello will invite and teach thee to comprehend thy 
God, hid within the fragrant voralia and the musical 
porilleum. 

" ' Who are these patients V I asked. And my Apozea 
answered : ' Seek to know them, and thou shalt under- 
stand ; feel to do them divine service, and they will tell 
thee all their secrets. The day is long, and the field is 
vast down to the waves of the Appilobeda. Within 
the temple is the fountain of Andomont ; berfeath the 
Isle is the source of the sweet-flowing Atodyle ; within 
thee is the all-wise, ever-loving Arahula, (meaning a 
divine guest); therefore, my baskatella, thou art with 
U3 at home, and thy feet will press the path that is 
pleasant ; see to it, I tell thee, that thou becomest 
worthy to know all things heavenly and eternal.' 

" So saying, he turned from me, and disappeared 

* The name given to half-cured patients. 



A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 197 

beneath the flowering gandulea, the beauty and fra- 
grance of whose foliage surpass all tints and odors upon 
earth. 

"My Apozea is a teacher of exceeding grace and 
power. There is an immaculate clearness in his beauti- 
ful eye; his loveful voice is both deep and round with 
power; impressive eloquence and modesty characterize 
his face and speech ; his form is rounded and is as per- 
fect as imagination can picture harmony of proportion ; 
and when he walks, the celestial colors sprinkle his 
wavy hair with golden light, while his soft* beard glit- 
ters with the highest ray of beauty. Demetrius, Tasso, 
Camoens, Theodorus, could not together form a person 
more physically beautiful. O my brother, the Greek is 
great and beautiful ! His disposition is gentle as a 
mother's love, yet there is the flow and fire of thought 
in his discourse; an effectiveness of imagery and lofti- 
ness of style which thrills every opcathalos who attaches 
himself to the class. The separate stages of individual 
experience, with their causes and significance, are the 
textual pivots of his powerful discourses. He is a met- 
aphysician, yet feels with the opeathaleta who hear 
him. Hundreds love him, although they know not the 
import of his speeches. The multitude catch his geni- 
ality and power, but not his thought. 

" The wondrous Aggamede now attracted me. I 
walked very near to the formation, put my hand upon 
its smooth sides, and began like an architect to examine 
the material and construction. The building substance 
used is called Aureola, but where obtained and hew 
formed into a transparent wall eighty times finer than 
the finest earthly glass, I as yet know not. It is 



198 A VOICE FEOM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

wondrously strong, and can photograph itself upon any 
suitable substance in three hundred and twenty-four of 
your seconds." Here friend Wilson unrolled a light, 
gauzy substance, and showed me a curious painting of 
the temple, taken from where he stood when first he 
saw it. In grandeur, magnitude, and newness of struc- 
ture, it exceeds everything I ever imagined. The like- 
ness of the temple was limited almost entirely to a 
single section or wing. Yet from the uniformity of the 
sections, as indicated by his verbal descriptions of the 
palace, I could gather from this picture an image of the 
entire structure. The domes appeared like a sea of ter- 
raced mountains of something finer than, but as real as, 
glass ; and like the Alps, they extended away toward 
the horizon, until, to my eyes, the temple was blended 
with and lost in the air. In my haste to take the gauzy 
picture in my own hand, in order to examine it more 
critically, he said : " Not yet, brother !" (and instantly 
withdrew it). But of the temple he continued : " It 
cannot be compared, either in material or construction, 
to any earthly edifice. The foundations and uprising 
walls appear to grow like trees from the Spirit-Land. 
Its many mountainous domes shed a mellow light upon 
the distant hills and countless streams. The palace of 
the Living God, to my earthly fancy, could not be more 
perfect and beautiful. It is surrounded by a reflecting 
atmosphere, with a power superior to that of the sun. 

" Afar from the kingdom of earth I stood, my brother ; 

and the palace-doors, like flowers in bloom, welcomed 

me. My joy was full of light like sunbeams, yet 

entered I there a sorrowful guest. ' The Zona* has 

* This name is given to a visitor. 



A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 199 

come !' ' The Zona is here !' was shouted and echoed 
through the vast mansion. Words grew unfreqncnt 
and low in every direction. The wing of the temple in 
which I stood was immense, and subdivided into tented 
apartments like a fair-ground or festival, and in each 
alcove and grotto, as far as I could see, there was some- 
thing artificial. Yet a mystic shade, like the shadow ot 
autumn upon the brilliant bloom of summer, covered 
every person and place. The mansion was filled with 
people of every country on earth, young and old, who 
seemed to be examining and adoring the beautiful and 
strange articles on exhibition. In silence I walked 
among the thronging visitors. Many faces smiled 
sweetly as I approached, yet a mute wail of grief 
seemed to succeed. Many looked happy for a moment, 
but a shadow of unrest swept over their faces. 

" My astonishment and perplexity increased every 
instant. The plaintive song of the baskatella floated 
through the temple, and the flowers, like* myrtles in 
bloom, shed a fragrance of sorrow upon all. ' What 
can this mean ?' I exclaimed. ' Is this in the Spirit- 
Land?' As I spoke, a hand touched me upon the 
shoulder ; I turned, and beheld my Apozea, the teacher, 
who said : ' These are opeathaleta ; can you not do them 
much good V I besought the Greek to instruct me in 
the causes of their condition. He answered : ' Speak 
to that young man [pointing to a person near us], and 
get from him his story.' Obeying the suggestion, J 
asked the youth to confide to me his secret grief. ' That 
I will do, my darling,' he tenderly replied, ' if you 
will promise to aid me to enjoy this beautiful world. 

9* 



200 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

Crossing my hands upon his bosom, I promised to do all 
in my power for his happiness. 

" ' Thanks, my zona baskatella !' he enthusiastically 
exclaimed, ' you will make me free as the flowing Ap- 
pilobeda, and my happiness will be like that of the 
arabula !' He grasped my hand lovingly, and said : 
' Follow me to my Toleka* The good Atolie made it 
to instruct me for ever.' 

" Without hesitation I went with him through many 
avenues of the wing, and halted before a great circle of 
happy spirits, who were, like Chinese, busily construct- 
ing toys, as I thought. The young man called upon 
' Atolie,' and a benevolent woman made her appear- 
ance. ' This is my Apozea !' said the youth, pointing 
to me as his teacher, and added : ' Allow him to behold 
the Toleka /' 

" The fond -bosomed woman held up what resembled 
a common leather purse, filled with gold and diamonds 
and other jewelry. I wanted the good Atolie to in- 
struct me as to its significance. She waved her hand 
negatively, but the youth said : ' I will show you all.' 

" Unquestioningly I followed him beyond the temple, 
over the flowing Atodyle, away from the Isle, and 
presently I observed that he was guiding me earthward. 
The beautiful sphere was afar, and as we approached 
the earth, he said : ' I am an Italian boy of much wick- 
edness, and I must remain on the Isle of Akropana- 
mede, must live and labor for the fraternity of Plana 
de Alphos, must visit the good Atolie once every day, 
and look at that purse of gold and diamonds, until J 

* The name given to a thing of memory. 



A YOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 201 

can overcome the effect of the evil I did before the day 
of my death.' Upon inquiring of his earthly home, he 
replied : ' Here we are just over the river Eria, in Italy, 
where my earthly body was lost in the effort to escape 
the officers of justice.' Immediately he drew my atten- 
tion to a small Italian house, in a place called Venes- 
trella, wherein I beheld a sorrowful and impoverished 
woman, looking at the likeness of her lost boy. ' That 
is my mother,' said the youth, sadly : i she is very poor 
and wretched, for the king took all her property to 
redress the wrong I did an officer's lady, whose money 
and jewelry I one night stole from her casket.' 

" Remembering the purse I saw in the spirit-land, in 
the hand of the good Atolie, on the Isle of Akropana- 
mede, I suggested the return of the property by drop- 
ping it upon his mother's lap. The Italian youth smiled 
with pallor, and replied : ' Ah ! my darling Apozea, 
that leather purse in the spirit-land is nothing to me 
but an artificial imao;e, bearing admonition and educa- 
tion. It is substantial and significant there / but here, 
on earth, it is the same as an imitation, without weight 
and without value.' 

" As he spoke thus, a new light dawned upon my yet 
more teachable and reflective reason. The Aggamede, 
then, is a Temple of Antiquities, a palace where past 
deeds or things are made to be present, until the right 
comes right upon earth, and until justice is fulfilled by 
the evil-doer. ' Yes !' interposed the youth, ' such is 
the temple. It is memory's crystal palace. Every arti- 
ficial toleka is an image of some thing, or of some par- 
ticular deed, accomplished or sought by the individual 
before death.' 



202 A YOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

" WLile he was yet speaking, I beheld the officer on 
the earth whose lady the boy had robbed, and by whose 
instigation the mother was reduced to wretchedness and 
beggary. ■' What would give you perfect happiness V 
I asked the youth. ' To behold my mother's property- 
restored, and the officer's lady forgetful of my theft,' he 
quickly responded." 

Brother Wilson in conversation assured me that this 
particular journey to earth happened nearly seven years 
ago ; and that, although several spirits had attempted 
to aid the mother, and to remove the trouble from her 
heart, yet the Italian youth is still a patient on the Isle 
of Akropanamede ; and every day he is growing wiser 
and more beautiful, but the purse will hang in the tem- 
ple until his mother leaves the earth for ever. The 
youth will not leave the Isle. Like the others there, 
his spirit is taking lessons of the least plants of truth 
that grow in the infinite summer of God, and preparing 
to reflect rays of light into dark minds in either sphere. 

"Returning to the Aggamede," continued friend 
Wilson, " with the youth, I was wiser and more help- 
ful. One antiquity that next fixed my attention was a 
singular mechanism. A Hollander seemed rapturously 
fond of it, and besought to explain to me his ' perpetual 
motion.' His mind was dead, as it were, to every great 
truth. Nothing else impressed him as useful for his 
remaining fellow-men. One day I accompanied him 
earthward, and we looked down upon his brother living 
at Iloevelaken, in the Netherlands, upon another at 
Kmmpen, and, lastly, upon the old homestead, and into 
the very tool-basket under the hovel, where the enthu- 
siast had spent his days and dollars, at JVider Xerschcn* 



A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 203 

making his i perpetual motion.' He urged upon me 
the feelings of his judgment with respect to the utility 
of his invention to mankind. Many times in the tem- 
ple he would rejoice over the news that a * medium ' for 
machine-building had been found somewhere on earth, 
He said that he had influenced many such, but as yet to 
no purpose. My Apozea, the learned and beautiful Greek, 
calls him an opeathelos, or patient within the temple. 

" On other journeys to earth in company with these 
spirits, I have visited and examined items of individual 
interest in Prussia, at Hohenstein, Vausburg, Frische 
Nehrung ; in the land of Germany, the places called 
Aichstadt, Rheda, Kohlberg, and Bingen • in the em- 
pire of Austria, the places known as Aolberg, Folded, 
Leypa, and Brzezany / in the country of Scotland, the 
places named Freswich, Kintyre, Lanark, and Lammer- 
■muir ; in England, the places called London, Llan- 
gower, and Frodsham ; in the country of Ireland, the 
places known as Ganagh, Dublin, Kildare, and Eva- 
nagh ; in France, we have visited to effect the places 
called Feurs, Paris, Bdlevue, and JVapoule • in Russia, 
the places styled FvanovsJc, Navolok, and lanisia ; in the 
United States, the places named Peru, Boston, Waukee- 
gan, Norwich, Hartford, Washington, New Orleans, and 
Portland. Understand, ray brother, that certain persons 
in these places have been effectually visited by the spirits 
of the Isle of Akropanamede. Good thus accomplished 
has made many Paralorella, or half-cured patients, who 
in due time will leave their love for ' by-gones, ; and 
will then press forward to the things which grow about 
them in divine beauty. The devotees of antiquities, 



204 A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

either of evil or good import, are the most unteaehable 
spirits in this existence. 

" Students of the past, those who love images, and 
cling to the pictures of what has concerned them indi- 
vidually anterior to their departure from earth, are clas- 
sified here as the Etiogarella. Many of them are great 
in learning. The artists who construct the keepsakes, 
the tolekas, are of both sexes, and of spirits from nearly 
all races, and are named Atoli. Zangorilla is the term 
used to signify 'lovers of the Isle.' Of this beautiful 
class of spirits there is an innumerable host. The cured 
become at first most devout and grateful inhabitants. 
Then they become gleeful, and the merriest singers and 
dancers that can be imagined. And such would not 
leave the Isle permanently if they could (as they can) 
find more attractions in other parts of the Spirit-Home. 
The merry dancers are called Opiati, and the singers, 
because of the beauty and sweetness of their songs, are 
named Ibleammah. If spirits are scholarly and learned, 
with a recollection of earthly honors and reputation for 
abilities which they have misused, and refuse to learn of 
the. wisdom of the Apozea, and feel high-minded, they 
are called La Prida. But when such conceive a love 
for God as he is hid in the bird and the lilies of the 
fields, they are then classified as the Uldia, or the ' no 
longer impenitent.' Goethe and Stilling are here, and 
each claimed the origination of the beautiful image 
' Lady Lily Siona.' My Apozea took these good and 
wise scholars to the musical porilleum. He next invited 
them to visit the voralia as they bloomed beneath the 
gandulea. Afterward they journeyed over the Appilo- 
beda, and meditated among the fragrant pantrello. 



A VOICE FKOM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 205 

And when they returned to the temple, they believed 
that the term ' Lily Siona ' was of no value in tho 
philosophy of eternity. 

" About two years ago, as I was walking in another 
wing of this wondrous Palace of Antiquities, my Apo- 
zea illustrated a lesson by some (artificial) stone ham- 
mers and flint knives, which he said had been long 
cherished as sacred relics by the Shoshonees, a tribe 
of earthly Indians. The imitations were fading away 
like mountain mist in the morning, and I inquired if 
such would be the fate of everything within the temple. 
He answered : ' The useful is eternal. But things are 
temporary.' To my further inquiries, he said : ' Mem- 
ory is frequently loaded with love for many things 
which do not exalt the spirit. Yet those things or 
images remain until the spirit hath outgrown the temple 
of the Antiquities. When morning dawns, the night 
and its shadows depart ; so the evil is no longer evil to 
the good.' We stood near the central fountain of An- 
drom'ont. Many-tinted flowers grew lovingly on the 
rounded margin. I touched one, and lo ! it shrivelled 
and seemed to die in a moment ! ' Behold, my baska- 
tella!' said my teacher, affectionately; 'your touch is 
poison to the mimosa sensitiva of the spirit-land. The 
damp shade of the fountain is life to the plant compared 
with thy deadly touch. On earth the asphodels grow 
upon graves to feed the manes of the departed. Here 
the rose blooms to instruct and exalt the living. The 
Arabula [divine Guest or God] is within thee. Live 
true to that, every moment of thy progress, and no flower 
will shrink from thy approach.' 

" With much sadness, I inquired to know what it was 



206 A VOICE FKOM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

in me that had poisoned the ?nimosa, and he replied: 
' You are yet impatient to mount higher than you 
can see, and hasty to hold more wisdom than your spirit 
can comprehend. This aspiration is poisoned with 
ambition, and this ambition is the tempter which 
prompts thee to appear to be more than yoic ay % e, and to 
seem to know what you do not. Rid thee of all this, else 
the flowers of Akropanamede will shrink from thy touch, 
and the arabula will steal the sunshine from thy heart.' 
" All this happened some two years since ; and, at 
lengthened intervals, my apozea has repeated his lesson. 
During all this time, I have labored with the opeatha- 
leta of the Isle. Among them are some of the mighty- 
minded of the earth ; nobles in government ; preachers 
in religion; authors of self-aggrandizing books; adhe- 
rents to antiquated forms of thoughts; but the merry 
dancers and the sweet singers are multiplying, and sun- 
beams from the eternal sun shine through many hearts. 
At first, it seemed that the universe had been narrowed 
down to an Isle of sad and gloomy experience. Birds, 
trees, rivers, hills, sky, my fellow-beings, seemed wretched 
and unpoetic. The Aggamede, with its multitudinous 
thickets of resplendent beauties, appeared unspiritual. 
Now, my brother, I come to tell that all is changed 
The Isle of Akropanamede is heaven. Every object is 
consecrated to good. Birds no longer sing sadly on the 
gandulea ; trees no more shed a melancholy light upon 
the flowing appilobeda ; the temple is no longer a 
palace of sorrow ; for hope and faith and truth and 
wisdom shine out from every door and dome. All who 
dwell here are divine lovers, friends, sisters, brothers: 
'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will 



A VOICE FROM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 207 

dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God 
himself shall be with them, and be their God.' Here, 
the mother's calm bosom veils the young child ; the 
flying hours bring progress to its mind ; and the warm 
wisdom of the apozea improves the restless spirit. Igno- 
rance and discord are no more to those who crave for 
and partake of the granted blessings. God is hid in 
the flower and in the fountain ; and I now know, my 
brother, which exalts my feelings most — ' the voralia or 
the porilleum? The fountain is my greatest teacher. 
God is in it, and it ever floweth, giving waters of life 
which all may drink if they have sufficient thirst and 
wisdom." 

Friend Wilson appeared beautifully luminous, like 
an angel of the highest degree, when he spoke these 
last words. He was evidently very happy, and, as he 
turned to depart, I asked : " Can you give me some 
information respecting the Spiritual Congress which I 
beheld at High-Rock Tower?" 

" You can mark me in the group of ' spiritual wis- 
dom,' "he replied, with a beautiful smile ; " for I am 
now counted in the class of Solon, the Athenian, who, 
with hosts, is a lover of the Isle, a zangorilla. The del- 
egations have discharged sublime duties since the Ses- 
sions you witnessed. They have exerted influence upon 
almost every kingdom. Russia is opening like a blighted 
empire, revived by the principles of justice. The stars 
of the night and the morning of her people are brighter 
now. Her slaves are less in bondage. But still greater 
changes are breaking over the hills of her destiny. 
Austria is growing less cold at her heart ; her weary 
sons will weep lessjn her fields ; and the shadow of pit- 



SOS A VOICE FEOM THE SPIRIT-LAND. 

iless pride will lift from the throne of the empire. Japan 
pillows her head no longer on the bosom of her pale 
kingdom. She has felt our forewarning. Ignorance 
was her terrible foe, and she bpre the cross without a 
crown. Her gates are open to the stranger. Angels 
have crowned the emperor, and the star of a better 
career is twinkling in her sky. And the other nations 
and powers, which have not yielded to justice, we are 
yet laboring to affect.-" 

" Can you tell me whether the twelve teachers men- 
tioned by Galen have been found ?" (I asked this ques- 
tion because it has many times been put to me, and 
I have wondered much upon that point.) And he 
replied : " Part of that number are this day at work in 
the vineyard of spiritual truth and progress." 

"May I know who they are?" I inquired. And he 
responded : 

" Wisdom denies even that they themselves should 
know the cause and extent of their individual efforts. 
Such vain knowledge possessed by any one of them 
would be a serious disqualification. The spiritual 
mimosa sensitives would shrink from them, and the pure 
truth would pale and depart before them, if they pri- 
vately knew what and who they are." He now appeared 
once more disposed to bid me an adieu, and said : 
u Ambula, my brother!" I asked whether, he had not 
something more for me or the world, and his valedictory 
words, as he was passing outward, were: " Tell man- 
kind, my- brother, that the Universe is a volume of holy 
writing, the title-page whereof not even the highest 
seraph has altogether read. Tell them that the Centre 



HAS THE SPIRIT A FUTURE LOCALITY ? 209 

of all formation is a holy-hearted Porilleum, a Fountain 
of eternal love and Wisdom ; that it floweth impartially 
throughout the encircling existences ; and that we drink 
from it as from an ocean of pure water." 



HAS THE SPIRIT A FUTURE LOCALITY? 

To ascertain whether the spirit has locality hereafter, 
we should inquire concerning its circumstances here. 
On this point the reader will find the following state- 
ment in a volume by the author entitled, " Answers to 
Ever-Recurring Questions," of the Harmonial series, 
commencing on page 57 : 

" The spirit of man is never out of the spirit-world. 
[By the ' spirit-world ' I do not mean the Second 
Sphere, or Summer-Land.] By the term ' spirit- 
world' is meant the ' silver lining to the clouds of 
matter 7 with which the mind of man is thickly 
enveloped. There is no space between the spirit of 
man and this immense universe of inner life. Man's 
spirit touches the material world solely by means of 
spiritualised matter, both within and without his body. 
Thus the five senses come in contact with matter : 1. 
The eyes by light. 2. The ears by atmosphere. 3 The 
taste by fluids. 4. The smell by odours. 5. The 
touch by vibration. ... By such conditions and 
attenuations of matter your spirit (yourself) comes in 



210 HAS THE SPIEIT A FUTURE LOCALITY ? 

contact with the outward world. Interiorly you are 
already in the spirit-world. You feel, think, decide, 
and act as a resident of the inner- life. Death removes 
the ' cloud of matter' from before your spiritual senses. 
Then you see, hear, taste, smell, and touch more pal- 
pably and intelligently, the facts and forces of the 
world in which, perhaps as a stranger, you have lived 
from the first moment of your individualised existence. 
It is not necessary to move an inch from your death-bed 
to obtain a consciousness of the spirit-world or inner- 
life. Instantly you perceive the life of things, and the 
shape and situation of the things themselves are 
also visible in a new golden light. . . . The Sum- 
mer-Land is a vast localised sphere within the universal 
spirit-world." 

The " Stellar Key " furnishes scientific and philo- 
sophical evidence that the Summer-Land is a substan- 
tial sphere, and is as natural and inevitable an outgrowth 
of the rudimental worlds as the fruit of a tree is of its 
roots, trunks, and branches. " We have a building of 
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." Paul, by a flash of insight, perhaps discerned, 
in common with many modern seers, that the Divine 
Energy, named by scientists Force, and by religionists 
God, which appeared in the visible stellar universe, still 
noiselessly operated in the invisible realm, to fashion a 
celestial sphere within that starry labyrinth, fitted to be 
the dwelling place of immortals. 



LIST OF THE WORKS 

or 

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS. 



AEABULA ; or, The Divine Guest. This fresh and beautiful volume 18 
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A STELLAR KEY TO THE SUMMER-LAND. Part I. Illustrated with 
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APPROACHING CRISTS : Being a Review of Dr. Bushnell's Lectures on 
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composed of six discourses, delivered by the author before the Harmonial Broth- 
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ANSWERS TO EVER-RECURRING QUESTIONS FROM THE PEOPLE. 
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CHILDREN'S PROGRESSIVE LYCEUM. A Manual, with Directions for 
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DEATH AND THE AFTER-LIFE. This little work contains eight Lec- 
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GREAT HARMONIA: Being a Philosophical Revelation of the Natural, 
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Vol. III. THE SEER, This volume is composed of twenty-seven Lectures <>n 
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Vol. IV. THE REFORMER. This volume contains truths eminently serviceable 
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Vol. V. THE THINKER. This volume is by numerous readers pronounced the 
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HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EVIL; With Suggestions for More 
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Paper, 50c. ; cloth, 75c; postage l^c. 



(List Continued.) 



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MAGIC STAFF. An Autobiography of Andrew Jackson Davis. " This 
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MEMORANDA OF PERSONS, PLACES, AND EVENTS. Embracing 
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MORNING LECTURES ; Twenty Discourses, delivered before the Society 
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PHILOSOPHY OF SPECIAL PROVIDENCES, AND FREE THOUGHTS 
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PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRITUAL INTERCOURSE. The Guardianship of 
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PENETRALIA. This work, which at the time was styled by the author 
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SPIRIT MYSTERIES EXPLAINED. The Inner Life; a Sequel to Spirit- 
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TALE OF A PHYSICIAN : or, The Seeds and Fruits of Crime. This is 
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pf~ Price of Complete Works of A. J. Davis, $26.00. 
Address all orders to the Publishers, 

WILLIAM WHITE & COMPANY, 
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